At the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, on 13 July 2008, the Republic of Croatia became a member of the Union for the Mediterranean, having accepted the legacy of the Barcelona process and the content of the Paris Declaration establishing the Union for the Mediterranean.

The Union for the Mediterranean is a multilateral framework for the cooperation between the European Union and the countries of the Mediterranean as an institutional follow-up to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, better known as the Barcelona process. Launched at the initiative of the then 15 Member States of the European Union and ten South-Mediterranean states at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Barcelona in 1995, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership aimed at strengthening cooperation, dialogue and regional integration in the Mediterranean. As the key element of the 1995 Euro-Mediterranean Conference, the Barcelona Declaration promoted the creation of an area of peace, stability, security and prosperity for all, as well as absolute respect for democratic principles, human rights and basic freedoms, and understanding among the cultures and civilisations in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

At the Summit for the Mediterranean in Paris on 13 July 2008, the Barcelona process of the Union for the Mediterranean came into being through the reform and upgrade of the existing Euro-Mediterranean architecture, a partnership that includes all the EU Member States, 16 states of the Mediterranean (Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Mauritania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Monaco), plus the European Commission and the Arab League. The Union for the Mediterranean currently totals 43 participating states.

The basic characteristics of the reformed Barcelona process are opening towards all the coastal states of the Mediterranean including the Adriatic Sea, strengthening the political level of relations, greater co-ownership of the process and cooperation on an equal basis, as well as greater visibility through major regional and sub-regional projects. One of the more significant novelties of the Union for the Mediterranean is the rotating co-chairmanship featuring one chairman from the EU and one representing the partner states from the Mediterranean, and the joint Secretariat resident in Barcelona and responsible for identifying and promoting projects of regional, sub-regional and transnational values in different sectors.

The Paris Summit also determined six priority projects: maritime security and protection in the Mediterranean, developing maritime highways and linking ports, eliminating pollution from the Mediterranean, alternative energy sources and the Mediterranean Solar Plan, development of small and medium-sized enterprises, and university education and research.

The European Commission allocated 3.2 million within IPA for the participation of 5 EU candidate and prospective candidate states (Croatia, Albania, B&H, Montenegro, Macedonia, Turkey) in the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue on the projects involving environmental protection, civil defence and transport within the Union for the Mediterranean. 

Since the Paris Summit, Croatia has participated in eleven ministerial conferences of the Union for the Mediterranean, where the following declarations have been adopted:

1. Conference of Foreign Ministers in Marseille, France, 3 and 4 November 2008
2. Conference of Finance Ministers in Marseille, France, 3 and 4 November 2008
3. Conference of Ministers of Industry in Nice, France, 5 and 6 November 2008
4. Conference of Ministers of Labour and Employment in Marrakech, Morocco, 9 and 10 November 2008
5. Conference of Health Ministers in Cairo, Egypt, 16 and 17 November 2008
6. Conference of Water Management Ministers in Swaimeh, Jordan, 21 and 22. December 2008
7. Conference of Ministers of Sustainable Development in Paris, France, 25 June 2009
8. Conference of Finance Ministers in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 7 July 2009
9. Conference of Ministers on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society in Marrakech, Morocco, 11 and 12 November 2009
10. Conference of Trade Ministers in Brussels, Belgium, 9 December 2009
11. Conference of Water Management Ministers in Barcelona, Spain, 13 April 2010.

Civil society. Activities of this multilateral partnership of the EU is also accompanied by an important component of cooperation between civil societies that is taking place through the Euro-Mediterranean Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, resident in Alexandria. The Anna Lindh Foundation operates as a network of national networks, bringing together civil society organisations, public institutions and organisations from various areas of work. ALF Member States are 43 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean, including the Croatian Network for Cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean that is coordinated by the National Foundation for the Development of Civil Society. The Croatian Anna Lindh Network has been evaluated as the fastest-growing new national network within ALF. Since its establishment in January 2009, it has included about fifty civil society organisations.