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Questions and Answers on the Pact for the Mediterranean
What concrete initiatives is the Pact proposing?
The Pact for the Mediterranean is putting on the table 17 initiatives with more than 100 actions to be developed in areas of mutual interest for the 10 partners of the region, the EU and its Member States. They are grouped in three pillars.
The first pillar focuses on people and, among its actions, proposes a Mediterranean University connecting students from the EU and partners, with shared courses, joint curricula/programmes, joint degrees, and other educational activities such as summer schools. Noteworthy is as well the creation of a dedicated mechanism to protect and promote Mediterranean cultural heritage building on a network of public and private stakeholders. Advancing digitalisation in the preservation of the cultural heritage of the southern partners feature as well among the objectives of this pillar. Among actions aimed to support a vibrant civil society, youth and local communities as vectors of development and social cohesion, a ‘Youth Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean' will be established to gather the voice and input of the youth.
Under the second pillar focusing on economy, the Pact will aim to further increase the economic integration of markets across the region to create sustainable growth and job opportunities, including by mobilising public and private investments at large scale. It will boost entrepreneurship through StartUp4Med, a Mediterranean ecosystem for start-ups and SMEs. The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean Tech Initiative (T-MED) also features as a flagship initiative. It will serve as a coordination tool to develop a pipeline of projects in renewable energy generation, grid infrastructure, including domestic transmission and distribution grids in Southern Neighbourhood countries. Through this pillar and its initiatives, the EU will strengthen digital and transport connectivity, advance clean transition and climate-resilient economic development, as well as foster a fair, sustainable, and competitive blue economy.
Under the third pillar focusing on security preparedness and migration management, one of the initiatives aims at enhancing the Mediterranean Disaster Preparedness that will support the development of an all-hazards early warning system, enhance food security preparedness, and expand cooperation on civil protection, including through a new European Firefighting Hub in Cyprus. A regional forum for the EU and the southern Mediterranean countries on peace and security will also be set up. It could provide an informal setting to foster joint regional situational awareness, share views and coordinate approaches on issues of common interest, such as the regional security situation and respective peace and security activities, including peace mediation. Finally, the Pact will continue promoting cooperation with partner countries in the area of migration, as a joint responsibility that requires a comprehensive, whole-of-route and rights-based approach.
What is the role of regional and civil society organisations in the Pact?
First, the Union for the Mediterranean and the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) have played an important role in the consultations leading to the Pact and will remain partners in the roll-out of the Pactin relevant fields.
Second, the Pact recognises the important role of civil society in supporting local communities, in raising awareness about key societal challenges, enhancing democratic participation, empowering women and young people, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive society. While specific attention to civil society is paid though a dedicated initiative in the first pillar, active participation of civil society will be sought across all initiatives.
Third, regular dialogues on the Pact implementation will be organised with civil society organisations, including academia, researchers, social, cultural and economic actors, as well as the business community.
How will the Pact initiatives be decided and monitored?
The Pact was launched by the EU with the southern Mediterranean partners on 28 November 2025 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Barcelona declaration.
The initiatives proposed under the Pact will be transposed into a dedicated Action Plan, to be presented by end of March2026, which will specify the participating countries and stakeholders for each initiative. The Action Plan will be a living document, and new initiatives will be added over time. Commission and the European External Action Service will ensure coordination and technical oversight of the implementation of the Action Plan.
On the EU side, discussions on the roll-out of the Pact will take place in the Council on a regular basis, including at the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC). The European Parliament will be regularly updated. The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions will also be kept informed. The Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly will serve as a key institutional channel for regional and local contributions.
At Euro-Mediterranean level, the action plan will be discussed twice a year by a joint EU-Southern Mediterranean partners meeting at senior officials' level. Their discussions will be followed up in the yearly EU-Southern Neighbourhood ministerial.
Will the Pact apply to the Mediterranean region only?
The Pact for the Mediterranean is a joint effort between the EU, its Member States and the ten Southern Mediterranean partners, to work together on shared priorities.
Looking ahead, the Pact will also aim to engage partners beyond the Southern Mediterranean, seeking cooperation with regional organisations as well as with Gulf partners, neighbouring Sub-Saharan African countries, notably Mauritania and Senegal, Türkiye as well as the Western Balkan partners and the Black Sea.
The Pact will support the further stepping up of triangular cooperation, in particular with Gulf partners. This is of key relevance as these countries represent an important bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa and can play an important role in addressing political, economic, development and humanitarian challenges in the southern Mediterranean, and in the Middle East in particular.
How will the Pact be financed?
The Pact will rely on the existing EU funding under NDICI Global Europe for the period until the end of 2027 and then without prejudging the final shape of the next Multiannual Financial Framework still to be agreed with co-legislators, it will aim at benefiting from the proposed €42 billion for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region.
Furthermore, the EU will work with the Member States, southern Mediterranean partners and Member States' and international financial institutions to maximise the impact and synergies of actions.
Finally, the private sector investments, including blending and public private partnerships, will be instrumental.
Does the Pact for the Mediterranean address migration, and if so, how?
The Pact for the Mediterranean enhances the cooperation of the EU with countries in the region based on broad political and economic frameworks in which migration is one among several shared priorities. It offers a Strategic framework for cooperation with Southern neighbourhood partners and operationalises the external aspects of EU external migration policy. Migration remains one of our greatest shared challenges but can also be seen as an opportunity. We are already managing migration together with our partners along the routes, but we want to step up with increased dialogue and cooperation.
The Pact promotes a comprehensive, whole-of-route and rights-based approach, with a view to prevent irregular migration and break smugglers' business with enhanced border control, improve the protection of migrants in vulnerable situations, asylum seekers and refugees, pursue an effective return and readmission policy including safe and dignified returns as well as sustainable reintegration, address root causes of migration and forced displacement, as well as structure legal pathways.
The Pact, therefore, structures address the migration phenomenon across its initiatives and fundamentally in its first and third pillars.
The three pillars of the Pact focus on areas as diverse as clean and renewable energy, water resilience, climate adaptation, trade and investment, education and skills, digital innovation, transport connectivity, security, preparedness and migration management.
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