Three decades later, those who participated in the Catalan capital still remember the excitement it generated. On November 28, 1995, in a post-Olympic Barcelona that claimed its Mediterranean identity, Europe and its southern neighbors signed a declaration that aspired—nothing less—to transform regional geopolitics. The Barcelona Process was born, an agreement that, in the words of its own architects, inaugurated “a new way of addressing the problems” of Mare Nostrum, for the construction of a shared space of peace and prosperity.
That text was possible thanks to an exceptional historical moment: the feeling—now difficult to recover—that the Middle East was facing an unrepeatable opportunity and the conviction that the Mediterranean could shake off its image as a fractured border. Three decades later, the balance of the project oscillates between lights and shadows. “The existence of the Barcelona process has structured, I would even say, geopolitically, the Mediterranean, despite its relative ineffectiveness for concrete economic and social development projects,” reflects diplomat Senén Florensa, executive president of the European Mediterranean Institute (IEMed).
After the agreement between the members of the EU and 12 partner countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus and Malta) there was tangible progress – commercial exchanges, shared cultural programs, an incipient common political agenda – but also significant setbacks: the blockage of the peace process, the failed democratization in much of the south, the outbreak of new conflicts and a climate of mistrust that not even the Barcelona-based company managed to dispel.
Joan Borrell, deputy secretary general of the UfM, defines this balance of chiaroscuros with a revealing image: “The bottle is very half empty, but if we throw it away, we will be left without water.” “You cannot give up the idea of cooperating between countries,” he insists, an idea that Florensa shares: “We have not achieved the objectives of a wonderful world that we set for ourselves in 95 when we thought that in 2012 we would have a great Euro-Mediterranean free trade area, but we must continue rowing. If today we had to draft a desideratum for the region we would redraft the same thing as in 95. The principles are still valid to create an area of peace and stability, of shared economic progress and of dialogue and understanding.”
That signing not only marked a diplomatic milestone, but also placed . “Barcelona has become the symbol city of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, to the point that its synonym is called the Barcelona process,” says Florensa. Catalonia wants to take advantage of that prestige to lead a common front of regions that can leave their mark on the implementation of the new Pact for the Mediterranean, the European Commission’s initiative that seeks to strengthen ties and recover lost influence in an area of enormous geopolitical interest for Europe.
In the heat of the anniversary, Barcelona is hosting dozens of summits, conferences and high-level meetings these days, which culminate this Friday with the 10th Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean, chaired by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi. Dubravka Suika, holder of a new portfolio of Ursula von der Leyen’s second community executive, will also participate, demonstrating the growing importance that Brussels gives to the region: .
The Pact for the Mediterranean, which aims to be a complement to the UfM, places special emphasis on the young population of the region and its training. “The EU has realized that the Mediterranean is its logical neighborhood space and that other actors want to occupy that space,” says Borrell, referring to powers such as China or Russia.
Before the meeting in Barcelona of those responsible for European Foreign Affairs and the Mediterranean basin, the Catalan Government wanted to set its priorities at the Euro-Mediterranean Summit of Regions, where a joint declaration was adopted urging the Commission to encourage regional power in the development of the pact. “The regions must intensify our role in European and Mediterranean governance, in the definition and implementation of policies,” claimed the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa.
These days, Barcelona is also hosting representatives from more than 40 cities from both shores of the Mediterranean at the +30 Mediterranean Cities Conference, organized by the MedCities network and the IEMed, which for the first time has been included in the program of the UfM Forum. “A paradigm shift,” Collboni said yesterday, “that recognizes cities as full actors in Mediterranean cooperation.”
“The Barcelona Process changed the perspective; it meant a change of vision and attitude,” highlights Stefano Sannino, director general of the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf (DG MENA) of the European Commission. “Just because it has not had the results we would have expected does not mean that the idea is not good. It is a very fragmented region, with many problems and confrontations and it has not been easy to find a common path, but the future has to be one of integration,” he assured EL PAÍS last week in a separate part of the Euro-Mediterranean Economic and Business Forum, organized by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the IEMed.
The anniversary not only invites memory, but also action: strengthening the role of cities and regions, consolidating commercial and cultural ties, and renewing the political will to build a safer, more prosperous and integrated Mediterranean; an effort that, although led by Spain, benefits all of Europe. “We want a genuine pact with the southern Mediterranean,” said Commissioner Suika in . “We are in a new geopolitical context and we must place greater emphasis and attention on this region.”
