Challenges at a crossroads

This anniversary arrives at a time of profound disruption. The conflict in the Middle East has proven that the region’s stability is crucial for global security, and any crisis within or around it inevitably reverberates around the world. Moreover, the region faces widening economic disparities, an escalating climate emergency, social fragility and vulnerability. In such a critical context, it is important to reflect on whether enough has been done over the past thirty years to empower regional and multilateral cooperation frameworks to address common challenges.

A call for a renewed multilateral cooperation

As we look ahead, 2025 must be a year of renewed dialogue and collaboration. It is time to come together and forge a new path guided by the principles of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The coming decade presents a pivotal opportunity for the Euro-Mediterranean region to address complex risks and halt the drift toward further instability.

The region’s most pressing challenges—security, economic stability, migration, climate change, job creation, transport, and energy—cannot be tackled in isolation. Revitalizing multilateral cooperation at the regional level strengthens the Mediterranean and plays a crucial role in restoring global stability and order. In that spirit, the new EU Pact of the Mediterranean provides an opportunity to revitalize multilateral regional cooperation.

Strengthening the UfM for the future

Since its establishment in 2008, within the framework of institutionalizing the Barcelona Process, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) has invigorated regional cooperation by creating a distinctive governance framework founded on equality, consensus, and tangible results.

As the sole multilateral forum uniting Member States from across the Mediterranean to address issues of shared interest, the UfM has proven itself as a vital platform for dialogue, negotiation, and agreement.

In today’s context, this convening power and inclusive space are more essential than ever for addressing regional crises. Recognizing this urgency, UfM Member States have initiated a reform process to ensure the organization is equipped to meet the region’s demands, with enhanced resources and capacity to act. This robust reform effort will deliver results at the UfM’s 10^th Regional Forum in November 2025. In this context, the UfM is working on ensuring full alignment between its mandate and vision for the years 2026-2030, and the development of the EU Pact for the Mediterranean, capitalizing on existing synergies.

The Barcelona Process, launched in 1995, is a unique and ambitious initiative that laid the foundations for a new regional partnership in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. It was established during the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Barcelona, where the Foreign Ministers of the EU and 12 Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries signed an agreement to launch the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

This partnership was conceived with the aim of transforming the Mediterranean region into a common space for peace, stability, security, and shared socio-economic progress, fostering dialogue between peoples.

In the Barcelona Declaration, the Euro-Mediterranean partners established three main objectives of the Partnership:

1. Definition of a common area of peace and stability through the reinforcement of political and security dialogue.
2. Construction of a zone of shared prosperity through an economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area.
3. Rapprochement between peoples through a social, cultural and human partnership aimed at encouraging understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies.

As a direct continuation of the Barcelona Process, the Union for the Mediterranean was launched in 2008 in Paris by a decision of the UfM Heads of State and Government. This initiative reflected their shared political commitment to enhance the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

The UfM brings together all European and 16 Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries, working together on equal footing under a North-South Co-Presidency, currently held by the EU and Jordan. Its mission is to strengthen regional cooperation and dialogue through the implementation of concrete projects and initiatives addressing inclusive and sustainable development, stability and integration in the Euro-Mediterranean area.

The UfM Secretariat was established in Barcelona in 2010 as the first permanent structure dedicated to the implementation of this partnership. It ensures operational follow-up of the regional priorities and supports the implementation of region-wide cooperation projects and initiatives.