This effort, titled "A New Pact for the Mediterranean," reflects a well-established European tradition of reassessment and recalibration.
Euro-Mediterranean cooperation has long been marked by cycles of revival, evaluation, and strategic reorientation, tailored to the shifting geopolitical context.
What distinguishes this initiative is the European side’s expressed desire to engage in preliminary consultations with Southern Mediterranean countries, ensuring the new vision reflects a genuine spirit of partnership and shared interests.
Two consultative forums were held as part of this process, one in Rabat in April and the other in Cairo in late May. They were organized jointly by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (Spain) and the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, with the American University in Cairo hosting the latter.
The final stage of this consultation concludes on Thursday and Friday with a round of discussions in Brussels.
The culmination of three decades of Mediterranean cooperation offers a timely opportunity to assess what has been achieved, what remains unfinished, and what realistic aspirations can shape the partnership’s future.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, now entering its fourth decade, was born in an entirely different global and regional environment.
At the time, the European Union was newly founded following the Maastricht Treaty, and the region was buoyed by the momentum of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel.
The spirit was one of ambition — Europe envisioned itself as a transformative regional actor, and countries of the Southern Mediterranean held high hopes for peace and multifaceted cooperation.
This enthusiasm was grounded in the belief that economic integration and shared prosperity, often termed the "peace dividend," could serve as pathways to conflict resolution, especially in the post-Berlin Wall era, which championed globalization and regionalism.
In contrast, the current proposal for a renewed Mediterranean Pact emerges amid a near-total reversal of the original context that gave birth to the Barcelona Process and its three pillars: political, economic, and human (or cultural) cooperation.
On the political front, the peace process has withered, supplanted by peaceless regional collaboration frameworks, culminating in the recent eruption of the Gaza war, with its open-ended timeline and genocidal scale of violence.
This conflict has not only dismantled the political axis of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation but also dealt a devastating blow to the EU’s long-claimed moral posture as a force for global peace.
Economically, aspirations have markedly diminished — from hopes of a Mediterranean free trade zone to a modest agenda grounded in sustainable development principles.
These now include the dual green and digital transitions, job creation (particularly for youth), women’s empowerment, private-sector engagement, energy cooperation, and, as always, migration management.
Migration remains a central concern, particularly regarding border control and curbing irregular flows toward Europe.
This marked reduction in scope and ambition also reflects the internal transformations of the EU itself, which has always played the leading role in shaping the Mediterranean partnership's vision, agenda, and policy frameworks.
The original Barcelona Process was launched when the European Union expanded and consolidated a Common Foreign and Security Policy among its member states.
The EU also cultivated a moral dimension to its global identity, portraying itself as an economic and political bloc and an ethical actor committed to international justice and peace.
This "normative power" narrative positioned Europe for many years as a global compass for civilized values, even if it was not the strongest or most technologically advanced force.
Countless conferences and intellectual discourses within Europe promoted this idea of Europe as the moral standard-bearer for the modern world.
However, multiple factors have since prompted an inward turn and a narrowing of the EU’s focus on Southern Mediterranean states.
These include escalating regional challenges and internal European dynamics such as the Union’s eastward expansion, the war in Ukraine, Brexit, and crises like the Greek economic meltdown.
The EU no longer projects the same confidence as a political and economic force, nor does it appear willing — or able — to bear the costs of being a normative power on the global stage.
As the political vision and moral centre of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership have eroded, and as alternative economic powers — particularly China — gain ground in the region, the partnership has lost much of its momentum and idealism.
Although the EU remains the principal trade partner for many Mediterranean countries, China continues to rise, and it may well overtake the EU in this role in the near future.
Indeed, several EU initiatives — most notably the "Global Gateway," launched in 2021 — can be seen as a direct response to the influence of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In a world where the European Union now acknowledges the limits of its material influence and retreats from its moral aspirations, the 30th anniversary of the Barcelona Process marks not a moment of triumph but a solemn recognition of diminished ambition.
The grand dreams of comprehensive Mediterranean cooperation have faded, giving way to a minimalist agenda focused solely on achievable, pragmatic objectives.
*The writer is an Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies expert.
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