As Europeans we will continue to promote inclusive dialogue, participation, joint ownership, mutual respect, work on what binds and connects us, not on what divides us, shared priorities, putting people at the centre of our work. As EU we will certainly continue to work regionally based on partnerships of equals. For me today is also a personal marker since I attended the Barcelona Process Conference in November 1995 as a civil society participant – sitting in a different room from where the political action took place – so I can look back at 30 years of the do’s and don’ts in our partnership.

A lot has been said and written about Barcelona, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Association Agreements, the more for more, the renewed Partnership Priorities for some partners, the Union for the Mediterranean, the current Agenda for the Mediterranean, Global Gateway, current SCPs with Egypt and Jordan and much more.  I will always encourage intellectual honesty, take lessons learned to heart, I will always listen to grievances, disappointments,  …because these are real feelings, based on often sound analyses not just perceptions, and I will also ask you all to continue to present constructive, pragmatic and practical proposals for a better or different way forward. So we need this honest assessment to look forward and get all our partners once again reengaged in creating this common zone of cooperation. Its politically an important impetus for all, in view of the EU’s attention for stopping the war on Ukraine, enlarging with 10+ partners, managing a multipolar world. 

Together we want to define a framework for cooperation based on concrete actions and with a pragmatic approach (scale up of current initiatives and identification of new ones) – concrete realistic and focused.  We are currently looking at three main pillars:  human development, economy, peace and security,  with a comprehensive approach to migration, with underlying actions in the three pillars. Yet all depends on the outcome of the consultations like the one today.