A strategy for the Mediterranean: a long-overdue priority for the EU
Last week in Corsica, EFA hosted an event to raise awareness about the need to propose European solutions to common challenges in Southern Europe
Climate change is 20% more severe in the Mediterranean than elsewhere in Europe. Every year, we witness its huge impact. Natural catastrophes occur more often, leaving victims and a lot of damage – recently, with more than 200 deaths in the DANA floods in Valencia. An increasing number of wildfires burn the mountains and forests of Southern Europe, resulting in agricultural, material, and environmental losses. And the thermometers mark increasing temperatures every year, making the summer temperatures unbearable. Heatwaves are the new normality. These challenges affect the whole of the European Mediterranean. As well as the effects of overtourism, the existence of island territories with their particular needs, and a huge migratory pressure.
This is why EFA organized an event last week in Corsica. EFA members and partners from the Mediterranean came together to raise awareness about the need to propose European solutions to common challenges in Western Europe. “This location could not be better found”, said EFA President Lorena López de Lacalle. “Corsica is an island, a mountainous terrain, and in the heart of the Mediterranean. It shares many issues with other EU territories that we’ll tackle”, she added.
The panel counted on the participation of Nanette Maupertuis, President of the Corsican Assembly, and President of the European Alliance Group in the Committee of the Regions; former EFA MEP François Alfonsi: Nora Mebarek MEP and member of the REGI Commission; and David Cormand MEP of the Greens/EFA Group. The panellists agreed that, although the creation of a role of Commissioner of the Mediterranean in the new Von der Leyen team sounded like great news, they were all quite disappointed by the direction it took.
Cooperation is essential
Commissioner Šuica is mostly focusing on Mediterranean foreign policy and sees the Mediterranean as “the wall” of Europe, rather than working on strategy and coordination of the EU Mediterranean regions. “We need a strategy for progress, one that drives cooperation between regions and territories”, said Nanette Maupertuis. “The next EU budget for cross-border cooperation with third countries is significant, but cooperation is difficult without adequate means”, she added.
Former EFA MEP François Alfonsi served as the rapporteur for the European Parliament’s report on Mediterranean cooperation published in 2023. EFA members were also active in contributing to the Committee of the Regions’ opinion by Nikola Dobroslavić about a Macroregional Strategy for the Mediterranean. These two documents put the Mediterranean needs on the agenda and led to the creation of a Commissioner for the Mediterranean. EFA’s event in Corsica was intended to follow up on those activities and to connect them with Commissioner Šuica’s portfolio and the New Pact for the Mediterranean.
As Alfonsi explained, “there is already a strategy for the North Sea with European Commission resources engaged”. We need the same for the Mediterranean. “Action is needed not only locally but across the whole Mediterranean”, he added. The report approved by the European Parliament in 2023 pushed to build Mediterranean cooperation, and it also focused on regional languages and Mediterranean islands. It will take the will of the Commission and the approval of the Council for that strategy to become a reality. EFA will continue pushing to put the Mediterranean at the center of the agenda and to promote a European strategy to tackle common issues.
