The assessment of Euro-Mediterranean relations from 1995 to 2025 and the way the European Union shapes its cooperation with the countries of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean are the central themes of the book. It focuses on the contribution of key institutional frameworks – such as the Barcelona Process, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the “New Pact for the Mediterranean” – highlighting, over thirty years, both the efforts and the challenges involved in creating a cohesive cooperation framework.
At the same time, it explores the role of member states in shaping Euro-Mediterranean relations, as EU choices either interact or test the limits of national interests, shaping complex relationships between Brussels and national governments. In this context, France is examined as a case study, alongside a comparative analysis with Spain, aiming to highlight similarities and differences in how two predominantly Mediterranean member states, with different governance models, contribute to shaping and Europeanizing the Euro-Mediterranean policy.
Finally, the impact of geopolitical crises in the MENA region and the broader Southeast Mediterranean – from conflicts in the wider Middle East to the refugee and migration crisis – is analyzed, along with developments in African regional integration that reshape the environment in the Mediterranean and serve as a test for the EU’s unity, coherence, and strategic independence, revealing both the potential for adaptation and the inherent limits of the European project in “Mare Nostrum.”
