{"id":52795,"date":"2025-10-16T13:55:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T10:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/?p=52795"},"modified":"2026-03-05T17:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:08:26","slug":"en-meso-geopolitikis-astatheias-sti-mesogeio-ti-boroume-na-perimenoume-apo-to-symfono-tis-ee-gia-ti-mesogeio-oi-analytes-tou-eliamep-apantoun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/en-meso-geopolitikis-astatheias-sti-mesogeio-ti-boroume-na-perimenoume-apo-to-symfono-tis-ee-gia-ti-mesogeio-oi-analytes-tou-eliamep-apantoun\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid geopolitical instability in the Mediterranean, what can we expect from the EU-Mediterranean Pact? – ELIAMEP experts’ views"},"content":{"rendered":"

Constantinos Capsaskis, Research Fellow, ELIAMEP<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pact for the Mediterranean is being brought forward at a very difficult juncture for the region, and especially so in the Eastern Mediterranean, and its implementation seems to present even greater challenges. Both international upheavals and regional developments continue to widen the gap between Europe and its Mediterranean partners. The increasingly transactional nature of the Union’s foreign policy on key issues such as energy and migration is also exacerbating the situation, creating an even more challenging backdrop for the development of closer relations.<\/p>\n

For Greece, the Pact could prove to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is natural that any European emphasis on a region directly related to Greece\u2019s interests could be seen as a positive development. However, Greek diplomacy must remain vigilant, since any institutional EU engagement with the Mediterranean also threatens the capacity for self-determination which the country\u2019s geographical position provides. Greece’s regional diplomacy with countries like Egypt is founded on Athens\u2019 role as a mediator in Brussels.<\/p>\n

If the Cairo-Athens-Brussels link-up becomes a direct Cairo-Brussels one, Greek diplomacy will have to obtain some guarantee, primarily from the EU, that Greece\u2019s vital regional interests will not be adversely affected, and that it will not be deprived of its role in the region. Athens will also have to offer its regional partners alternative motives \u2014in the form of opportunities and gains\u2014for deepening bilateral relations.<\/p>\n

Triantafyllos Karatrantos, Research Associate, ELIAMEP<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pact for the Mediterranean arrives at a time of intense geopolitical change, but also of armed conflicts in the Middle East that have created new factors of instability and insecurity. In this context, it really matters whether the Pact will be able to function as a political institutional arrangement for cooperation, or as a loose agreement in specific sectors with an emphasis on trade and transport. Organized crime and terrorism cannot be, and radicalization prevented, without the cooperation of the countries of the wider Mediterranean region. The same applies to both migration management and maritime security. This is why the EU has been investing for years in externalizing its activities in these areas. However, the results have generally been fragmented and achieved in the context of bilateral cooperation. It is therefore important that the Pact includes actions in its security priority that both ensure sustained cooperation with concrete and measurable milestones, and foster a culture of common threat perception and cooperative responses. The EU-Western Balkans framework for cooperation in the fight against terrorism, for example, could serve as a useful model. Finally, it would be especially useful to extend cooperation beyond environmental policy and establish a framework for jointly managing and responding to natural disasters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cleopatra Kitti, Senior Policy Advisor, ELIAMEP<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Mediterranean region is the EU\u2019s frontline to Africa.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a region of 500 million people (as large as the EU\u2019s internal market), \u00a0producing 10% of global GDP but only 1\/4 of its trade is intra regional.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the least inter connected region in the world.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the\u00a0<\/span>10 years\u00a0<\/span><\/b>we are tracking trade and socio-economic data – \u00a0UNCTAD, IMF, national statistics agencies\u2019, Eurostat and World Bank\u2019s 1500 socio-economic indicators, – for each country the Mediterranean region (EU and non EU), – where we aggregate, analyze and compare data – there has been\u00a0<\/span>no significant progress<\/span><\/b>\u00a0to report on\u00a0<\/span>interconnectivity<\/span><\/b> and on materially socio-economic collaboration for growth and prosperity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To make this a meaningful Pact, it must ensure:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0<\/span>Data<\/span><\/b>: Evidence based policy making.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0<\/span>Governance<\/span><\/b>: establish benchmarks of success with checks and balances, review mechanisms and authentic projects that ensure socio-economic progress for the citizens and businesses of non EU countries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0<\/span>Leadership<\/span><\/b>: the governance model of the Pact should include organisation and institution leaders with integrity and with governance knowledge not only politicians. These individuals must have the ability to embrace evidence based policy making, travel through the region including to the most challenged areas to understand the situation that they need to remediate, bolster and interconnect. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Otherwise it is doomed to the same results as those of the last decade, which neither the EU nor Non EU countries can afford. The world order and global financial architecture are changing fast, it is not an option to be left behind.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

George Tzogopoulos, Senior Research Fellow, ELIAMEP<\/strong><\/p>\n

It depends on what the scope of the new Mediterranean deal is. If it encompasses issues the European Union can handle\u2014such as trade, energy transition, education, culture and, possibly, migration\u2014then it will be a positive initiative that can deliver results. However, if its scope includes foreign policy and security issues, it is highly unlikely the new Pact for the Mediterranean will have any impact. Generally speaking, the European Union tends to present plans for the Mediterranean at intervals, and then fail to implement them. In 2020, for example, the idea of a multilateral conference on the Eastern Mediterranean was mooted, but no action was taken towards its realization. The current situation\u2014with the war in the Middle East just one of multiple problems\u2014does not provide much grounds for optimism about the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Constantinos Capsaskis, Research Fellow, ELIAMEP The Pact for the Mediterranean is being brought forward at a very difficult juncture for the region, and especially so in the Eastern Mediterranean, and its implementation seems to present even greater challenges. Both international upheavals and regional developments continue to widen the gap between Europe and its Mediterranean partners. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":52797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[492],"tags":[],"program":[25],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52795"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55146,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52795\/revisions\/55146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52795"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=52795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}