Egypt raised doubts over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan for a union of Mediterranean spark divisions with the European Union.

Sarkozy has proposed an EU-style "Mediterranean Union" of over a dozen states to curb illegal migration and terrorism and promote economic development. The plan has provoked concerns in east Europe that the EU would be too focused on the south.

Egypt Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit questioned how the plan would be financed, how it could be implemented without Israeli-Palestinian peace, and whether it could win EU approval.

"There is a lot to be worked on," he told a European Parliament committee.Gheit described Sarkozy's plan nonetheless as "very interesting" and said it could help unite North and South in the Mediterranean and defuse a lot of tensions.

"We are still in the very, very early stages of discussions on this proposal, but as a matter of fact, yes, why not?" However, he said the plan first needed the support of the 27 EU member states.

"The European Union is not only composed of France, Italy, Greece and Spain and Portugal," he said. "It extends to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Germany and the Nordic countries. We have to see how such players will react to that proposal."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday Sarkozy's plan could cause "explosive" tensions between Germany and France and tear apart the European Union."Cooperation must be open for all EU states and have the agreement of all," Merkel told a conference.

She said otherwise there would be a tendency that countries like Germany would be more orientated to the East and countries like France more orientated to the south. "If that happens, it could awaken explosive forces which I do not want."