Diversity is what Mediterranean peoples are made of
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “The Mediterranean has never been defined by isolation. Throughout the centuries, its societies have been forged through exchange, movement, and the constant encounter between cultures, languages, and beliefs. Civilisations around this sea evolved through a continuous process of interaction that transcends borders.”
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The fire season that never ends
By Joan Borrell Mayeur, Deputy Secretary General for Stability and Resilience, Union for the Mediterranean. “In August 2025, as fires tore through Portugal and two of its Canadair planes broke down, the government asked Spain for aerial support. Spain could not help. Its own resources were already overwhelmed by simultaneous fires across the Iberian Peninsula. Morocco stepped in and sent two aircraft instead. That situation – a European neighbour stretched beyond its capacity, a North African partner stepping into the breach – shows what Mediterranean fire management looks like today, and what it needs to become.”
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The Mediterranean connects. Its politics must catch up.
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “I have spent eight years at the helm of the Union for the Mediterranean, and several decades as a diplomat. In that time, I have sat across the table from ministers whose countries were living through active conflict, not merely its threat, I have listened to climate scientists warning that the Mediterranean basin is warming 20 per cent faster than the global average, and I have met families displaced not by choice but by the convergence of conflict, environmental pressure and economic collapse. Different conversations, different pressures, but always the same conclusion. No single country can address these challenges alone.”
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The Barcelona Process at 30: From Ceasefire to Common Purpose
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “Thirty years after the Barcelona Process began, our region is still bleeding from old wounds. But a fragile ceasefire in Gaza has cracked open a narrow door. We owe it to every citizen in the region to turn that opening into a just and lasting peace that all our nations can enjoy. After decades in diplomacy, I know a ceasefire is not peace; it is a chance to build it.”
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The Blue Mediterranean Partnership: Advancing a Sustainable Future
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “As we all know, climate change has profound implications and the need for environmental sustainability is critical. The Mediterranean region, with its beautiful coastlines and diverse ecosystems, is increasingly exposed to rising sea levels, water scarcity, and extreme weather events. Climate change further accelerates environmental risks, putting additional stress on coastal infrastructure and activities. This will not only have an impact on national economies, but on vulnerable local communities that depend on the sea for their economic survival too.”
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More efficient Euro-Mediterranean civil protection collaboration is needed to protect lives
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “The summer of 2023 will be remembered as one of extremes on both sides of the Mediterranean: storms, drought, heatwaves, wildfires, and earthquakes. As Croatia, Italy and Algeria braved flash floods, the historic lack of rain continued to take its toll on Spain, blazes raged across Tunisia, and the Mediterranean Sea broke yet another heat record. Morocco also experienced its biggest quake in well over 100 years only months after violent tremors shook Turkey and Syria.”
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Union for the Mediterranean, 15 years of regional cooperation
By Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union and Vice-President of the European Commission / Ayman Safadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan / Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean. “Over the years, the UfM has established itself as the leading multilateral framework in the Euro-Mediterranean region despite the challenges posed by a turbulent regional and international context. More than 60 projects have received the unanimous endorsement of the 43 UfM countries. Those projects, with a combined budget of € 5 billion, aim to benefit more than 10 million people directly, with an estimated indirect impact that includes approximately 100 million people. The organisation has championed job creation and women’s rights, enhanced connectivity efforts among countries, and addressed pressing environmental and climate emergencies.”
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The Mediterranean: an unheard tale of climate, threats, and hopes
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “For the first time in the history of climate negotiations, there will be a Mediterranean voice at the table. A diverse coalition will come together for the inaugural Mediterranean Pavilion at COP27: North and South, public and private, business and academia, women and men. We have come together to defuse the greatest ever existential threat to the sea and region that cradled so much history, knowledge and civilisation. The inaugural Mediterranean Pavilion will serve not just to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to accelerate the sustainable transition but also to shine a light on the innovative solutions and policies that have come out of this often-overlooked region.”
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Celebrating Mediterranean diversity and unity in the face of shared challenges
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “Mosaic”, “Future”, “Light”, “Civilization”, “Solidarity”, “Serenity”… These were some of the words Mediterranean artists, policymakers, scientists or businesswomen chose to describe our common sea, in the framework of our first Day of the Mediterranean campaign. Over the past few months, we’ve been asking citizens from the region to describe the Mediterranean in one word. I was happily surprised that the answers were all so positive and heart-warming, in contrast with the echoes of the headlines we are used to read.”
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On integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region
By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General. “Where should the focus of our attention lie as we emerge cautiously from the worst of the pandemic’s impacts? Plans for post-pandemic recovery are gathering pace and the phrase “building back better” is now widely used. To avoid this becoming nothing more than a slogan, we must be clear about the substance behind these words.”
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