The Secretary General for the Union for the Mediterranean Ahmad Masa’deh decided to step down as in his words, “the general conditions against which he accepted to assume the job have changed”. This statement can be interpreted as his way of denouncing how the Israeli-Palestine conflict is practically paralysing the work of the UfM.
In an interview with ACN, Ahmad Masa’deh affirms that the UfM should work aside the Middle East political conflict and focus on economic and social projects. The Euro-Mediterranean Summit has been postponed twice this year and most of the Member State experts have not yet been sent to the UfM headquarters.
The organisation’s headquarters in Barcelona are half-empty with only 25 people currently working. The Arab-Israeli conflict is stopping the UfM's set up and the start of projects. The Secretary General of the UfM states that the organisation's work should focus on technical projects in economic and social areas, aside from politics.