Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Monday urged Europe to make every effort possible to ensure the success of the Union for the Mediterranean.
conference he said a ''fresh political drive'' was vital if the union was to achieve its goals.
The idea of a Mediterranean union, the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who first touted the idea during his presidential campaign, has enjoyed enthusiastic backing from Italy from the outset.
After 18 months of negotiation, the union is scheduled for its official launch in mid-July.
But holding the Barcelona Process up as a warning, Frattini said participants in the union must invest politically in the scheme if it is to enjoy any chance of achieving concrete goals.
''The Barcelona Process launched in 1995 has come nowhere near reaching its targets because the political will was lacking,'' he said. ''Less bureaucracy and more policy are what is needed now''.
The foreign minister said it was crucial for the European Union to engage actively with Mediterranean countries outside the bloc.
''Europe can no longer be satisfied with its 'good neighbourhood policy','' he added, referring to a special relationship the EU cultivates with a number of neighbouring countries that are unlikely to ever enter the bloc.
Sarkozy's original vision of a Mediterranean union was limited strictly to countries on the Mediterranean Sea and excluded the EU.
He suggested an integrated Euro-Mediterranean region jointly managing security, energy, immigration and other policy issues.
But resistance from other European states, particularly Germany, and Turkey's initial hostility to the idea, which would have kept it out of the EU, have resulted in a much looser alliance with less ambitious goals.
The original name, the Mediterranean Union, was ditched, and in its current incarnation the initiative will focus on areas such as improving energy supplies, fighting pollution, boosting maritime surveillance and creating a shared scientific community.
But in spite of these changes, Frattini said he was convinced the Union for the Mediterranean could act as a force for positive change.
The foreign minister underlined that Mediterranean countries were ideally placed to forge special relations with key states in the Middle East.
''The Union for the Mediterranean must ask itself how it can help find a solution to peace in the Middle East and how to stabilize Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan,'' said Frattini, who was vice president of the European Commission before taking up his current role in the new centre-right government last month.
''We also have to step up our relations with countries in the Gulf and recognize the strategic role they play''.
Turning to the sensitive issue of Iran, which continues to reject Security Council demands for inspection of its uranium enriching sites, Frattini said dialogue was ''crucial'' and must involve ''all countries in the expanded Mediterranean area''.
Iran claims its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed only at producing electricity but Western nations suspect Tehran is building an atomic bomb.
The Union for the Mediterranean will be launched at a summit on July 13-14.
