Recommendations for the “Pact for the Mediterranean”

This paper highlights both persistent lines of rupture as well as emerging opportunities for renewed convergence. Three central messages emerge: credibility, co-ownership, and inclusiveness. Credibility requires dedicated financial instruments that go beyond fragmented or rebranded envelopes. Co-ownership implies policies that generate shared value, not extractive dynamics. Inclusiveness demands that youth, municipalities, and civil society are integrated as full actors of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. Building on these insights, the paper emphasises that the New Pact for the Mediterranean can only succeed if it transforms long-standing frustrations into actionable commitments. This means shifting from a discourse of promises towards instruments that restore trust – such as dedicated financial envelopes with clear visibility, legal migration pathways that offer genuine mobility, joint energy and climate ventures based on co-ownership and local value creation, inclusive platforms for youth participation and mobility, independent credibility monitoring tools, and governance structures that integrate municipalities and civil society.