EuroMeSCo’s
CONTRIBUTION TO THE
EU GLOBAL STRATEGY ON
FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY
EuroMeSCo’s CONTRIBUTION TO THE EU GLOBAL STRATEGY
On the occasion of the EuroMeSCo Annual Conference 2016, held in Brussels
on 14-15 April, more than 150 experts and policy makers from 30 countries
gathered to discuss the current security situation in the Mediterranean. The Annual
Conference “Towards a Security Architecture for the Mediterranean”, held at a
critical juncture of Euro-Mediterranean relations, aimed at contributing to the
debate in the final stretch before the release of the EU Global Strategy on Foreign
and Security Policy.
The debates constitute a valuable contribution to the mapping of the main threats
in the Mediterranean region and offer interesting insights on how the security order
in the region should be reviewed in order to address them. The position of the
European Union as an actor in the region and the impact of domestic challenges
on its external leverage are leading threads of the report.
In addition to the plenary sessions, three “thematic sessions” offer in-depth
analyses of the multidimensional security threats and challenges in the region,
including the hard security threats, the impact of domestic political and economic
developments on the stability of states in the region, and the energy and
environmental challenges. The full report including also the result of the parallel
sessions where the work of EuroMeSCo joint research groups was presented
(including on topics such as radicalisation, the situation of refugees in selected
Southern Mediterranean and European countries, youth activism in the MENA
region, post-conflict future of Syria and prospects of Tunisian transformation) can
be accessed online.
Below are some of the outstanding points that came out from the debates:
1. The security order in the Mediterranean is seriously threatened. Terrorism or
refugee flows are only symptoms of broader geopolitical dynamics.
2. There are similar patterns in the European Union and in Southern/Eastern
Mediterranean countries regarding the causes and the consequences of the
security crisis. The EU needs to acknowledge that it is to some extent also part
of the problem; A number of terrorists were grown in EU countries; Some EU
countries are contributing to the arms race in the region through increasing
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EuroMeSCo’s CONTRIBUTION TO THE EU GLOBAL STRATEGY
arms exports. Phenomena such as youth marginalisation or rise of populism are
to be found with various shades in both the EU and Southern/Eastern
Mediterranean countries.
3. While this situation would call for renewed security cooperation, it appears that
existing regional security structures are dysfunctional. Despite existing
cooperation fora and a web of bilateral and multilateral agreements, the security
situation appears very fragmented and polarised.
4. While establishing brand new security structures in the Mediterranean appears
to be an ambitious objective in the current volatile context, it remains that
renewed security cooperation is urgently needed within the European Union,
within Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries and also between the
European Union and Southern/Eastern Mediterranean countries whose security
mindsets have grown apart. A departing point would be a shared and innovative
Mediterranean vision of security, based on a common threat assessment that
should involve not only security services in the region but also think tanks and
civil society. The maritime and land dimension of security should be integrated
in any reflection on security in the Mediterranean. The UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea remains unsigned by a number of Mediterranean coastal states,
resulting in legal uncertainties in the Mediterranean maritime space.
5. Any security initiative should be underpinned by a renewed and consistent
effort in terms of economic and social reconstruction. The underlying drivers
pushing people to the streets in 2011 have not been addressed. The broken
social contract between Governments and societies should be restored. The
role of the Union for the Mediterranean is important in this context as security
issues cannot be discussed in isolation from broad developmental and
economic issues. The EU should continue to focus on root causes, to promote
good governance and the rule of law and to refrain from rushed interventions in
reaction to immediate threats.
6. Similarly, strategic issues need to be considered such as demography, energy
and climate change. The fact that about two thirds of the Arab World is under
30 should be considered as a human capital and potential rather than a
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EuroMeSCo’s CONTRIBUTION TO THE EU GLOBAL STRATEGY
demographic time bomb. The regional cooperation potential of recent gas
discoveries in the Mediterranean should be further explored. Climate change
and water scarcity constitute serious security risks in the Mediterranean that
should be factored in.
7. The multiple crises within the European Union have hurt its diplomatic clout in
the Mediterranean at a time when it is most needed and while the EU’s fate is
to a wide extent linked to the fate of the Mediterranean. The EU Foreign Policy
is too often lacking consistent geopolitical and political inputs. Rather than a
security strategy, the EU needs a political strategy with a security dimension
that would restore a common EU narrative. The EU should also intensify its
efforts to contribute to conflict resolution in the region, including in the IsraelPalestine conflict, which continues to be a matrix of frustration in the region and
an obstacle to regional stability.
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