Muslims snub summit

last updated 8 January 2015

Barcelona

The first Euro-Mediterranean summit was a flop this week, after leaders from most of the Muslim countries failed to attend. While nearly all 25 E.U. countries sent presidents or prime ministers to the two-day meeting, only two of the 10 Mediterranean members—Turkey and the Palestinian Authority—did. The rest, citing political problems at home, sent lower-level delegations. The summit ultimately produced no progress on immigration issues and only a vague condemnation of terrorism. European and Israeli delegates wanted to say that terrorism is “never justified,” while Arab and North African countries wanted to allow an exception for those fighting foreign occupation. The compromise language avoided the issue entirely.