ABSTRACT
A new economic alignment and possible political transfiguration have begun to emerge in the Mediterranean area. The 18-nation conference of consuming States held in Pans during the first week of April 1975, provided a fitting symbol of the shifting power relationships in the Mediterranean basin. An essential difference between the North African countries and those of Southern Europe is that of commonality. Throughout the Arab world there exists a common language, a common cultural experience, a common religion, a common experience of colonisation, similar economic structures, and a similar historical development. Petroleum is the one global natural resource that has supplied energy at a lower cost to a greater market than any other raw material. The sudden increase in petroleum pricing has often resulted in difficult adjustment and periodic dislocation. Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s there has been a constant shift of strategic and military power in the Mediterranean basin towards the Soviet Union.
