Union for the Mediterranean
Political · UfM
The Marseille ministerial of 3 and 4 November 2008 put the seat of the secretariat in Barcelona. The same statement admitted the League of Arab States to every meeting at every level. Consensus has moved the roster ever since: North Macedonia joined on 24 November 2022 with no member objecting, and Syria returned in July 2025 from a suspension it imposed on itself.
43 countries
- AlbaniaThe 2023 census counted 2,402,113 people in Albania and the voter roll of April 2025 held 3,713,761 names. The land, the history and the economy, each figure dated.
- Algeriaالجزائر
- Austria9 million people on 83,879 landlocked square kilometres with eight borders. A republic from 1918 in a capital built for an empire, neutral since 1955.
- Belgium11.8 million people on 30,688 square kilometres, three official languages and six governments. A federal structure built around a language border, and 16 heritage sites.
- Bosnia and HerzegovinaBorders set in 1718 and 1739, a state divided by the 1995 peace agreement into two Entities, and 3,531,159 people counted in October 2013.
- BulgariaFounded by treaty in 681 and rebuilt by another in 1878, Bulgaria is a country of 6.4 million in the eastern Balkans, in the EU since 2007 and the euro since 2026.
- CroatiaCroatia counted 3,871,833 residents in 2021, 9.64% fewer than in 2011, and registered 94.8 million tourist nights in 2025, 94.3% of them on the Adriatic.
- CyprusCyprus has been independent since 16 August 1960 and in the European Union since 2004, and its government controls about 59% of an island administered in four pieces.
- Czechia10.9 million people on 78,871 landlocked square kilometres. A state created by negotiation in 1993, an industrial economy tied to Germany, and 17 World Heritage properties.
- Denmark5.8 million people on 42,925 square kilometres of peninsula and islands, highest point 171 metres. A 179-seat parliament, four of whose seats sit in the Arctic.
- Egyptمصر
- EstoniaA Baltic republic of 1,369,995 people as of 1 January 2025 whose statehood survived occupation as a legal record, and whose voting and company registry now run the same way.
- Finland5.7 million people on 390,905 square kilometres of forest and lake. Independent since 1917, in the EU since 1995, and in NATO since April 2023.
- France68.6 million people and 643,801 square kilometres across three oceans. Five republics since 1789, 56 nuclear reactors, and public debt at 115.5% of output.
- Germany83.6 million people on 357,588 square kilometres with nine land borders. A constitution written to be temporary in 1949, and an export economy that grew 0.2% in 2025.
- Greece10.6 million people on 131,957 square kilometres of mountain and archipelago. A state founded in 1821, a constitution from 1975, and 21 World Heritage properties.
- Hungary9.5 million people on 93,030 landlocked square kilometres with seven neighbours. A treaty in 1920 took 72% of the territory, and the question has never closed.
- Ireland5.1 million people on 69,797 square kilometres. A constitution changed only by referendum, and an economy whose own statisticians publish a second measure of its size.
- Israelישראל
- ItalyItaly holds about 58.9 million people, was proclaimed a single state on 17 March 1861 and became a republic in 1946. Its cities, regions and districts still do the work.
- Jordanالأردن
- LatviaLatvia holds 1,845,096 people as of 1 January 2026 on flat, wet ground on the Baltic, under a constitution of 1922 restored in 1991 after two rewritings of its population.
- Lebanonلبنان
- LithuaniaThree ultimatums between 1938 and 1940 ended Lithuania's first republic. The state restored on 11 March 1990 has spent since then rearranging its connections westward.
- Luxembourg681,973 residents in 2025, 47% of them foreign nationals, and 223,000 more crossing a border to work. A grand duchy of 2,586 square kilometres with three languages and 8.2 trillion euros of fund assets.
- Malta553,214 people on 316 square kilometres between Sicily and North Africa. A Semitic language in Latin script, Catholicism in Article 2 of the constitution, and a Westminster parliament.
- Mauritaniaموريتانيا
- MonacoMonaco is one commune of 208 hectares: a prince, a 24-seat parliament, 65,680 workers in 2024 and 38,857 residents on 1 January 2025.
- Montenegro617,213 people in 2022 on 13,883 square kilometres. A state named for a mountain above Kotor that reached the sea in 1878 and now earns much of its living there.
- Moroccoالمغرب
- Netherlands17.9 million people on 42,201 km2, a fifth of it water and much of the rest below sea level. What the Dutch earn from, how they are governed and what there is to see.
- North Macedonia1,836,713 people counted in 2021, a name agreed with Greece in 2018, EU talks tied to Bulgaria, and exports led by development zones that shipped €3.18bn in 2025.
- Palestineدولة فلسطين
- Poland37.5 million people between the Baltic and the Carpathians. A state that vanished for 123 years, moved west after 1945, and now runs the EU's most coal-dependent grid.
- Portugal10.3 million people on 92,225 km2, a language spoken by 250 million, a border unchanged since the 13th century, and close to three foreign visitors a year for every resident.
- RomaniaA country of 19 million on the lower Danube, made in 1859 out of a gap in a treaty, enlarged in 1918, cut apart in 1940, and in the European Union since 2007.
- SlovakiaA landlocked Central European country of five and a half million, independent since 1993, whose four car plants built 1,040,000 vehicles in 2016.
- SloveniaA Central European country of 2,133,852 people as of October 2025, independent since 1991, with borders drawn by other people's treaties and a state its voters authorised.
- Spain48.6 million people on 505,990 km2, five official languages, seventeen governments and 97 million visitors a year. What Spain is, how it is run and what is worth seeing.
- Sweden10.6 million people on 528,861 square kilometres from the Baltic to the Arctic. A monarchy whose 1974 constitution left the crown no power, and which kept its own currency.
- Syriaسوريا
- Tunisiaتونس
- Türkiye85.4 million people at the end of 2023, a capital, alphabet, clock and English name each fixed by statute, on a plate driven west between two faults.
Common questions
Questions about UfM
Which countries are in the Union for the Mediterranean?
Every member state of the European Union, together with Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Türkiye. That is 43 in all. Libya takes part as an observer and is not counted among the members.
Does a member need a Mediterranean coastline?
No. Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Slovakia and North Macedonia are landlocked, Mauritania faces the Atlantic, and Jordan's only coast is at Aqaba on the Red Sea. The northern half of the group is the European Union's own membership list, which reaches to the Baltic and the Arctic. Libya, which has a long Mediterranean shore, is an observer instead.
What happened to Syria's membership?
Syria suspended its own participation in December 2011, after European sanctions, and stayed on the roster while it stayed away. There is no expulsion procedure in the arrangement and no ratification was needed to end the absence. Syria resumed full membership by attending the senior officials meeting held in Brussels on 8 July 2025.
How is the Union for the Mediterranean chaired?
By two states at once. The final declaration agreed at Marseille on 3 and 4 November 2008 gives one half of the co-presidency to the European Union side and the other to a Mediterranean partner chosen by consensus for a non-renewable two years. France and Egypt held it from the Paris summit of 13 July 2008. The European Union and Jordan have held it since 2012.
What is a UfM labelled project?
A regional cooperation project that senior officials have endorsed by consensus, either in a meeting or through a silence procedure in which no reply by the deadline counts as agreement. The label carries no money of its own; it is a statement that no member state objected. The secretariat's own operating budget is met half by the European Commission and half by member state contributions.
Is the Union for the Mediterranean the same as the Barcelona Process?
It is the continuation of it. The Barcelona Declaration of 27 and 28 November 1995 opened the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in three chapters, political and security, economic and financial, and social, cultural and human. The Paris summit of 13 July 2008 relaunched that partnership as the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, and the Marseille meeting that November shortened the name.
Sources
- Member States · Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat. The roster read on 2 September 2026, and Libya's observer status.
- Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, Paris, 13 July 2008 · The launch under a French and Egyptian co-presidency, and the list of participants, which includes Croatia and the United Kingdom.
- Final Statement, Marseille, 3 and 4 November 2008 · The shortened name, the League of Arab States in all meetings at all levels, the seat of the secretariat in Barcelona, the co-presidency rule and the five deputy posts.
- Joint Declaration of the UfM Member States on the Accession of North Macedonia · Barcelona, 24 November 2022. The letters of 21 December 2021 and 21 September 2022, the acquis accepted, and membership effective from that day.
- Questions and Answers · Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat. The label granted by consensus or silence procedure, the statutes of 3 March 2010, and the half and half funding of the operating budget.
- Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the EU · European External Action Service. The membership as the EU states plus sixteen, and the co-presidency held by the EU and Jordan since 2012.
- UfM Senior Officials meet in Brussels to advance new strategy and welcome Syria's resumption of membership · Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat. The meeting of 8 July 2025 and the end of the self-suspension.
- History · Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat. The Barcelona Process of 1995, the Paris decision of July 2008, the Marseille conference of November 2008 and the opening of the secretariat in 2010.
- Barcelona Declaration and Euro-Mediterranean partnership · EUR-Lex summary. The declaration of 27 and 28 November 1995 and its three chapters.