Rabat Hosts the First Dialogue Event with Southern Partners of the Consultation Project on the New Pact for the Mediterranean
15 May 2025 | Corporate news
The Director-General of the European Commission Department Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, Stefano Sannino, chaired the opening of the event at the Policy Center for the New South
After two productive days of dialogue and collaboration, the high-level consultation on the new Pact for the Mediterranean in Rabat successfully concluded on 14 May.
Co-organised by EuroMeSCo and IEMed, in partnership with the Policy Center for the New South, the event — the EuroMeSCo Consultation Circle — provided a platform to discuss shared Euro-Mediterranean priorities, draw inspiration from successful initiatives, and explore new models for sustainable and inclusive cooperation.
More than 80 participants — including experts, policymakers, youth representatives, civil society actors, and private sector members — came together to contribute to this new chapter of the EU-funded IEMed/EuroMeSCo consultation process on the new Pact for the Mediterranean.
This gathering marked the first dialogue event in a southern partner country 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.
The EuroMeSCo Consultation Circles (Rabat, 13-14 May | Cairo, 27-28 May) 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.
More news, videos and pictures on the EuroMeSCo website