ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2023
From the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership to a Euro-Mediterranean Geostrategic Alliance
Madrid, Spain
An event registered in the official programme of the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council
Welcome
As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the cooperation of the EU with its southern neighbours has intensified in order to mitigate some of its socio-economic consequences (including in terms of food security) but also to jointly address new arising geostrategic and energy challenges. This has opened new horizons for Euro-Mediterranean relations and calls for reflections on how existing Euro-Mediterranean cooperation mechanisms and institutions could be adapting to this new reality, offering the conditions for win-win partnerships between equals. Along the same lines, the creation of the European Political Community involving Eastern neighbours of the EU, with two summits foreseen in 2023, also calls for renewed and parallel efforts to instil new dynamism into the Southern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy, whose 20th anniversary is celebrated in 2023. The EuroMeSCo Annual conference will thereby contribute to the preparation of high-level Euro-Mediterranean meetings foreseen towards the end of 2023.
The Annual Conference was hosted in Madrid alongside two EuroMeSCo side events: the BUSINESS PLATFORM 2023: THE GLOBAL GATEWAY, A NEW PARADIGM FOR RELATIONS BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS PARTNERS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BEYOND and the VI EUROMED YOUNG RESEARCHERS FORUM.
Speakers
Álvaro ALBACETE
Roger ALBINYANA
Rabha ALLAM
Başak ALPAN
Joseph BAHOUT
Houda BEN JANNET
Silvia COLOMBO
Andrea DESSÌ
Gonzalo ESCRIBANO
Senén FLORENSA
Dalia GHANEM
Cengiz GÜNAY
Zine Labidine GHEBOULI
Laury HAYTAYAN
Ezgi IRGIL
Juha JOKELA
Kristina KAUSCH
Lina KHATIB
Roee KIBRIK
Nickolay E. MLADENOV
Ángeles MORENO BAU
Cristina LOBILLO BORRERO
Erzsébet N. RÓSZA
Jean-Loup SAMAAN
Johannes SPÄTH
Harry TZIMITRAS
Kataryna WOLCZUK
Agenda
Madrid - Spain
October 9th-11th · 2023
October 10th · 2023
Luis CUESTA. Sub-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Álvaro ALBACETE. Deputy Secretary General, Union for the Mediterranean
Senén FLORENSA. Executive President. European Institute of the Mediterranean – IEMed.
Chair: Roger ALBINYANA. Managing Director, European Institute of the Mediterranean – IEMed.
Speakers:
- Houda BEN JANNET. Director General, Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie – OME.
- Gonzalo ESCRIBANO. Senior analyst and Director of the Energy and Climate Change Programme, Real Elcano Institute.
- Laury HAYTAYAN. MENA Director, Natural Resource Governance Institute.
- Cristina LOBILLO BORRERO. Head of the Energy Platform Task Force (EPTF), Directorate-General for Energy (ENER TF), European Commission.
Chair: Dalia GHANEM. Senior Analyst, European Union Institute for Security Studies – EUISS.
Speakers:
- Lina KHATIB. Director of the Middle East Institute, SOAS, University of London.
- Harry TZIMITRAS. Director, PRIO Cyprus Centre.
- Nickolay E. MLADENOV. Director General of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, former UN Special Coordinator for MEPP and Iraq, former Foreign, Defence Minister of Bulgaria.
- Joseph BAHOUT. Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut – IFI/AUB.
Chair:
Dorothée SCHMID. Senior Research Fellow, Head of Ifri’s Turkey and Middle East Program.
The EuroMeSCo “plugged-in sessions” are spontaneous debates between EuroMeSCo researchers about regional issues and developments that are high on the Euro-Mediterranean agenda.
This session will tackle the international and diplomatic ramifications of the series of natural disasters that hit the Mediterranean over the last months, including the earthquakes in Turkey and Morocco, the flood in Libya, and wildfires around the region.
Chair:
Haizam AMIRAH-FERNÁNDEZ. Senior Analyst for the Mediterranean and Arab World, Elcano Royal Institute
The EuroMeSCo “plugged-in sessions” are spontaneous debates between EuroMeSCo researchers about regional issues and developments that are high on the Euro-Mediterranean agenda.
Over the last years, there have been multiple coups and coups attemps across the Sahel region. What implications do these coups hold for the EU and the MENA region? How do these coups have perceived and handled by the EU and the countries in the MENA region?
Chair:
Salam KAWAKIBI. Director, Paris office, Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies
The EuroMeSCo “plugged-in sessions” are spontaneous debates between EuroMeSCo researchers about regional issues and developments that are high on the Euro-Mediterranean agenda.
In 2024, elections are scheduled in Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, Malta, and the European Union. What lies on the horizon for these upcoming elections? Can they usher in transformations in Euro-Mediterranean relations.
Under the theme The quest for a more „geopolitical“ EU Foreign policy in the MENA region, the parallel working sessions will consist of selected researchers presenting their papers and discussing them with other EuroMeSCo researchers and participants.
| Moderation: Rabha ALLAM. Expert & Head of Terrorism & VE Studies Program, Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies – ACPSS.
Zine Labidine GHEBOULI. Visiting Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations – ECFR.
Ezgi IRGIL. Research Fellow, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (Utrikespolitiska Institutet) – UI.
First discussant: Andrea DESSÌ. Scientific Advisor for the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa programme, Istituto Affari Internazionali – IAI; Assistant Professor in International Relations and Global Politics, American University of Rome – AUR. |
Under the theme The quest for a more „geopolitical“ EU Foreign policy in the MENA region, the parallel working sessions will consist of selected researchers presenting their papers and discussing them with other EuroMeSCo researchers and participants.
Moderation: Juha JOKELA. Programme Director, European Union and Strategic Competition, Finnish Institute of International Affairs – FIIA.
- Securing European Interests from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf: Rethinking EU Strategic Autonomy at Sea
Jean-Loup SAMAAN. Associate Research Fellow, French Institute for International Relations – IFRI.
- The European Political Community, Türkiye and the Mediterranean: Discourses, Policies and Prospects
Başak ALPAN. Associate Professor, Middle East Technical University.
First discussant: Harry TZIMITRAS. Director, PRIO Cyprus Centre.
Under the theme The quest for a more „geopolitical“ EU Foreign policy in the MENA region, the parallel working sessions will consist of selected researchers presenting their papers and discussing them with other EuroMeSCo researchers and participants.
Moderation: Erzsébet N. RÓZSA. Senior Research Fellow, Institute of World Economics – IWE.
- The EU’s Quest for a Greater Geopolitical Role in the Mediterranean and the MENA Region: Where do we stand, where should we go?
Silvia COLOMBO. Senior Researcher and Faculty Advisor, NATO Defense College & Associate Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali – IAI.
- Exploring the Potential of Minilateralism for Europe-Mediterranean Partnership
Roee KIBRIK. Director of Research, Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies –Mitvim.
First discussant: Kristina KAUSCH.Deputy Managing Director GMF South, German Marshall Fund of the United States – GMFUS.
October 11th · 2023
Chair: Alberto José UCELAY URECH. Director-General for the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation.
Speakers:
- Beatriz SALVADOR GARCÍA. Deputy Head of Division, Regional Affairs (MENA 1), European External Action Service.
- Kataryna WOLCZUK. European Neighbourhood Policy Chairholder, College of Europe – Natolin Campus.
- Cengiz GÜNAY. Director, Austrian Institute for International Affairs – OIIP.
Videos
Past Conferences
Press
Media information
Members of the press are invited to cover EuroMeSCo Annual Conference. Registration for coverage is required. To register, ask for more information or request an interview, please get in contact with the IEMed Press Office (contact below)
Jordi Bertran
Jefe de prensa / Press Officer
jbertran@iemed.org
T +34 932 449 854/0 | Mb +34 647 333 030
Follow us on @EuroMeSCo
The Twitter hashtag for the event will be #euromesco2023
Contact
Ana López
Events and Dialogue Officer of the EuroMeSco Project
alopez@iemed.org
T +34 932 449 850
Pol Alberti
Communications Officer of the EuroMeSco Project
palberti@iemed.org
T +34 932 443 921
Acknowledgement Policy
Print/Radio – Any article or interview derived from EuroMeSCo Annual Conference should mention EuroMeSCo Annual Conference.
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