challenges ahead euro-mediterranean region

214 Pages·2017·3.74 MB·English

CHALLENGES AHEAD
IN THE
EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGION
Lisbon 11 october 2016
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MED7 SEMINAR
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Title
MED 7 Seminar – Challenges Ahead in the Euro-Mediterranean Region – Lisbon
Publishers
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal
Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Lisbon
Editor
Thalia Petrides
Graphic concept
EuropressLab
Printed by
Europress - Indústria Gráfica, Lda.
Legal deposit
420030/17
ISBN: 978-989-97964-1-6
ISBN: 978-989-97964-2-3 (ePub)
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MED7 SEMINAR
CHALLENGES AHEAD
IN THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGION
LISBON 11 OCTOBER 2016
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CoNTENTS
Contents
Preface 9
A Brief history of MED7 11
MED7 Member States 13
The Republic of Portugal 15
The Kingdom of Spain 19
The Republic of France 23
The Republic of Malta 25
The Republic of Italy 29
The Hellenic Republic (Greece) 33
The Republic of Cyprus 37
MED7 Seminar – Program, Welcome Remarks and Keynote Speech 43
Artur Santos Silva 47
Thalia Petrides 51
Margarida Marques 55
Augusto Santos Silva 59
Composition of Panels and Presentations 67
Presentations in PANEL I 77
Francesco Franco 79
Theodore Panayotou 89
Marianna Papadopoulou 101
Presentations in PANEL II 109
Gabriel Busquets 111
Gurvan Le Bras 117
Walter Mallia 121
Rui Vinhas 127
Presentations in PANEL III 133
Miguel Garcia-Herraiz 135
Kim Kreilgaard 141
Martin Ortega 145
Concluding Remarks 149
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CoNTENTS
The Seminar in Photos 153
Reference Documents and Information Material 165
Reference Documents 167
1st informal Ministerial Meeting of the “Med7 Group”, Alicante,
Spain, 16 April 2014 169
Ministerial meeting of the «Mediterranean» group
(Paris, 20 February 2015) 173
3rd informal Ministerial Meeting of the “Med7 Group”, Limassol,
Cyprus, 25-26 February 2016 177
Athens Declaration of the 1st Mediterranean EU Countries’
Summit, Athens, Greece, 9 September 2016 183
General Information About 189
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 191
Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais 197
The European Investment Bank 199
Union for the Mediterranean 205
Editorial Note 209
Acknowledgements 211
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PREfACE
PREFACE
During more than two millennia, even if not totally continuous in time, the
Mediterranean Sea lied at the very heart of the Western World. Carrying
goods, connecting people and conveying ideas and knowledge, it
decisively contributed to the gradual consolidation of a common space
where the shared the values of Classical Antiquity were in fact to become
one of the fundamental pillars of European culture.
Today, within the EU, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece and
Cyprus share many values and interests. Therefore, it makes perfectly good
sense for these like-minded countries to get together to discuss and
concert positions on issues of shared concern. This was the basis for the
MED7 Group, launched in 2013 at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
and since then much has occurred in Europe and beyond its shores.
Some distracted or suspicious observers might ask themselves which are
the motives behind these meetings and I can elucidate these interrogations
by pointing out at least two basic reasons.
The first one has to do the growing importance of regional informal groups
within the EU. In our point of view, these groupings should not supersede
the EU’s institutions but solely provide an additional forum for discussion
among partners with special affinities. And, as I have pointed out, this is
clearly the case with Southern EU countries.
The second motive is related to the increasing relevance of the
Mediterranean in the European agenda: migrations, security or energy
have become paramount issues of the EU institutions and all of them
require a strong cooperation between the North and the South of the
Mediterranean, following the example of the 5+5 Dialogue (involving
Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
and Libya).
In fact, truth be told, we have to recognize that, despite our common
heritage, at times the Mediterranean Sea has also functioned as a wall,
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PREfACE
separating the destinies of regions and peoples sharing a very significant
cultural heritage. Therefore, bridging this long-lasting gap is also one of
the main challenges we face nowadays, particularly taking into account
the shared interest of all European States in the stability of our neighbour-
hood.
Considering this broad interdependence among the regions encompassed
by the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the sizeable challenges affecting in
particular the southern EU members-states, the idea of organizing a MED7
seminar naturally emerged as an imperative during one of the working
lunches which are regularly held between the Secretary of State of
European Affairs and the MED7 countries’ Ambassadors based in Lisbon
(similarly to what occurs in other capitals of the members of this group).
On this occasion, I would like to thank them and their countries, once again,
for the fruitful joint collaboration in this endeavour. And in particular, I wish
to praise the Ambassador of Cyprus, Thalia Petrides, for all her determination
and commitment to this project, in which she was deeply involved from
the beginning to its completion. All together, we were able to lay the
foundations for valuable debates and have laid ground for future work in
several domains. From all perspectives, I think it is fair to claim success.
Margarida Marques
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