BRUSSELS: The EU has launched a renewed push to strengthen ties with northern African countries and other Mediterranean nations, offering investments, deeper cultural ties, and cooperation on migration.
The European Commission unveiled a “Pact for the Mediterranean”, which lays out areas, including energy, clean technology, and education, where the 27-nation bloc would like to boost cooperation with its southern neighbors.
“We are making a clear offer to our neighbors. Let us create a common Mediterranean space with a goal of progressive integration between the two of us,” commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
Aimed at 10 nations, including Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Algeria, the pact envisages a series of actions such as the creation of a “Mediterranean University” to increase student exchanges and an initiative to support start-ups.
It partially replicates and rationalizes the concept behind a series of deals that Brussels recently struck with Tunisia, Libya, and others, providing aid and investments in return for help with migration.
The idea of curbing irregular crossings permeates the pact, which envisages cooperation on border management and countering migrant smuggling.
The deal aims at “creating an environment for youngsters to stay there if they want, but at the same time, creating legal pathways for them to come” to Europe, said Dubravka Suica, the EU’s commissioner for the Mediterranean.
Brussels is hoping the 10 target nations, which were consulted during drafting, will endorse the pact next month, for it to be then turned into an “action plan” setting out concrete initiatives to be implemented.
