‘Sarkozy’s Union for the Mediterranean’. On 14 July 2008, during the French Presidency of the European Union, German cartoonist Wolfgang Horsch illustrates the suspicion of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso concerning French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to set up a Union for the Mediterranean. This union would be designed to strengthen the partnership between the Member States of the European Union and the other countries in the Mediterranean basin.