Brussels Hosts Kick-Off of Second Phase in IEMed Consultation Project on the New Pact for the Mediterranean

15 April 2025 | Corporate news

The EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, chairs an exchange with leading regional experts, researchers and top-level EU officials

The European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), with the backing of the EU Directorate-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf (DG MENA), officially kicked off the dialogue events — dubbed EuroMeSCo Consultation Circles — of its project to help shape the EU’s future strategy in the Mediterranean, with a high-level, closed-door session at the European Commission’s headquarters on 8 April 2025.

The Brussels kick-off brought together a carefully selected group of leading regional experts, researchers from the EuroMeSCo network of think tanks, and top-level EU officials, including Commissioner for the Mediterranean and for Demography Dubravka Šuica. The session launched the EuroMeSCo Consultation Circles, a series of structured dialogues that will travel across the region — from Brussels to Rabat, Cairo, and back — engaging stakeholders at all levels.

This gathering marked the first stop in Brussels of the “Support to Reflection and Consultations on the Pact for the Mediterranean” project — a year-and-a-half-long EU-funded effort led by the IEMed, which acts as the Secretariat of the EuroMeSCo network. The initiative seeks to provide strategic input into the formulation of the Pact for the Mediterranean, a flagship political framework for the EU’s external action with its Southern and Eastern Mediterranean neighbours, as announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in 2024.

Amid complex geopolitical shifts, climate and demographic pressures, and calls for a more inclusive and equitable partnership, the Consultation Circles aim to foster a participatory and regionally grounded dialogue. Against this backdrop, the exchange in Brussels offered a timely platform for participants to contribute evidence-based insights and policy recommendations rooted in regional realities.

Following the kick-off in Brussels, the Consultation Circles are now moving southward, with upcoming stops in Rabat and Cairo. These gatherings will bring the conversation closer to local realities, engaging experts, civil society leaders, and community actors to explore which instruments of cooperation should be strengthened, what new ideas the Pact should embrace, and how ownership from both shores can be enhanced.

The process will culminate in June 2025, when the final Consultation Circle returns to Brussels. There, the IEMed and its partners will present the consolidated findings and recommendations derived from the regional dialogues and the EuroMed Survey, which was conducted in March to capture a wide array of voices and perspectives across the region.

While its findings are still being processed, this year’s edition of the Survey is already being hailed as the most inclusive to date:

  • Stakeholders from 24 countries contributed, making this the most geographically and demographically diverse edition to date.
  • More women participated than ever before, reflecting growing gender parity in regional dialogue.
  • Youth engagement soared, highlighting the growing commitment of younger generations to shape future policy.