Remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas and Commissioner Šuica on the Pact for the Mediterranean

High Representative/Vice-President Kallas  

The College adopted several initiatives today.  

First, we agreed on a new Pact for the Mediterranean. You just heard President von der Leyen's statement on the subject. We will go into the details shortly.  

We also adopted a Roadmap for Defence Readiness. I will present after this press conference, together with Executive Vice-President Virkkunen and Commissioner Kubilius. 

We also adopted a proposal for an ‘EU global climate and Energy Vision', which Executive Vice-President Ribera and Commissioners Hoekstra and Jørgensen will talk you through.  

And lastly, the College welcomed Pieter Hasekamp, Chairman of the independent European Fiscal Board. He briefed us on the Board's Annual Report. With those points covered, let me turn to the Pact for the Mediterranean.  

The geopolitical importance of the Mediterranean cannot be overstated. It has been at the top of our foreign policy agenda since day one of this Commission. From the fall of the Assad regime to the war in Gaza, the region remains on a knife's edge.  

Today, we have a window of opportunity to reframe the EU's relationship with the Southern Neighbourhood. Commissioner Šuica will go into more detail, but a few short points from me.  

The Pact includes more than a hundred projects, including support for 5G and data centres as well as many youth-focussed schemes. Commissioner Šuica has been working hard to make these happen – she will give you more details. We want to support young people in our partner countries with better opportunities through training, jobs and stronger local economies.  

The common theme is to bring people together. This itself includes a range of initiatives, from rail, road and maritime links to subsea cables carrying data between our regions.  

This is also an opportunity to address shared security threats better. We see similar challenges in the Mediterranean Sea that we see in the Baltic and North Seas. Shadow fleet ships pose major security risks to both our regions. The EU needs to work closer with the region to discuss these topics, including via a new regional forum dedicated to security.  

In practice, this means: more cooperation, including through the EU's military and civilian missions in the region; sharing situational awareness; and more coordination on common security threats.  

There is also potential to work closer together on disaster preparedness, including on an AI early warning system and a new firefighting hub for the region.  

The Pact builds on existing cooperation in the region. That is why we will also launch in November in the margins of our meeting with the Union for the Mediterranean.  

A lot has changed in the thirty years since the EU and the Mediterranean countries established a regional partnership. Today we adopt a blueprint to make our cooperation more focussed on the future. 

Thank you. 

Commissioner Šuica

Thank you very much.

Thank you, dear Kaja.

Good afternoon,

First of all, thank you for the excellent cooperation on the Pact. And as you rightly said, we know that the political landscape has changed since the start of this mandate, and it is changing as we speak.

We have been working on this Pact from the day one of this mandate – but of course, we have not started from scratch, because all of you know that we adapted the new agenda for the Mediterranean in 2021.

So, we are not redefining our agenda, but we changed our methodology this time. We use a bottom-up approach. It was not created within only DGs and the so-called ‘bubble', but it reflects the situation on the ground. We are creating a partnership of equals.

The difference is that this time, we are going much more gradual, by trying to identify the full potential of the region. We are supporting investments of mutual interest to our countries by working together in order to change societies by working together. 

The focus this time is on 10 southern countries, partners, but the Pact will also deepen our cooperation with the neighbours of our neighbours, such as the Gulf partners. But it goes beyond the region, thinking about Mauritania, Türkiye, also having in mind IMEC – knowing that it starts in India and ends in the Mediterranean.

So, it is crucial to underline today that this Pact is the outcome of the intense consultations with the Member States – our Member States – with Southern partners and stakeholders such as civil society, youth and academia.

Today, we have a right to say that we mark a new chapter.

Of course, the recent events in the Middle East and long-awaited peace deal give us hope for a better future. What we are doing: we are creating a common Mediterranean space. And this Pact is not just a political declaration.

Our deeper cooperation is a strategic choice, and it is reflected in the creation of new portfolio – creation of the new DG MENA – and also in our proposal – Commission's proposal – to double the budget for this region to €42 billion in the next programming period. Of course, now it is in co-legislators' hands.

The Pact has already demonstrated the connecting power. The Pact is, as High Representative already said, backed by more than 100 concrete initiatives and actions. Just to say a few words about the structure of the pact, it is constructed around three pillars with a strong governance structure.

The first pillar focuses on people. People at the center, driving force of the change. We want to empower people by creating a common space for learning, culture, sports and mobility. One of the flagship projects is creating a Mediterranean University to connect young people and broaden Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe.

Also to ensure sure that young people's voices are heard, we will establish a youth Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean. These are only few examples of how we invest in people. There is much more on culture, on diplomacy, on mentoring programs, on Mediterranean Games, which are coming.

So, we are bridging the skills and qualification gap in labor markets and strengthening civil society in local communities.

The second pillar is also on people, but it is about sustainable and integrated economies. So we are investing there in that part of the world. The European Union is already the region's largest trading partner, and the potential ahead is enormous.

The Pact will modernise trade and investment relations. We will support startups and SMEs, knowing that out of 10 companies in that part of the world, nine of them are SMEs.

We will expand our cooperation in renewable energy, clean technologies, and, of course, blue economy. We will also offer EU roaming as a model to our Mediterranean partners in order to improve connectivity. Whatever we are doing here, we will do it in order to deliver growth and jobs.

Another example on energy is Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean Tech Initiative, the so called T-Med. It is about energy transition, knowing that there is a plenitude of sun, wind and of course. Of course, there is potential for green hydrogen energy.

So we will also set up a regional startup support mechanism to improve access to finance and mobilise investments. When I say this, we need international financial institutions there – European Investment Bank, EBRD, World Bank and others, and they will support, of course, all this.

The third pillar is about cooperation on security, justice and law enforcement, as well as on migration management.  We will put in place a regional dialogue on internal security in order to strongly combat organised crime and terrorism. We will also enhance the EU Knowledge Hub on prevention of radicalization - this is also important.

The Pact in this third pillar also includes the establishment of a European firefighting hub in Cyprus, as it was announced by by President von der Leyen and the High Representative, in order to support the development all hazard early warning systems.

You know that migration remains our greatest shared challenge, but at the same time, it is our shared opportunity. Our goal is to ensure better conditions, so that people are not forced to leave their homes in search for better life. So the Pact will support the efforts to prevent illegal departures, of course, fight smugglers, while creating legal pathways to address Europe's labor needs.

We will also scale, scale up talent partnerships with Morocco, with Tunisia and with Egypt, and facilitate issuance of visas, in particular for students.

As I already said, the Pact goes also beyond the Mediterranean. Gulf countries already mentioned.

To conclude, building on the successful Southern Neighborhood Mininsterial in July, we will launch and welcome the Pact, together with partners, as High Representative already said, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration – the Barcelona process – in November. We hope that this will show our powerful, not only symbol, but our real devotion.

This will be renewal, unity, and a shared future for all Mediterranean partner countries. What we offer today to our partners is a joint vision for stability and prosperity.

The Pact was done, once again, in consultancy with all the countries, with all stakeholders. Their contributions were taken into account.

To finish, I will say: when the Mediterranean prospers, Europe prospers too.

Thank you.