Let us open our eyes wide open about cooperation and stability in the Mediterranean and dream that the way forward would be to call a Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean. If we start now, we might be in time to convene it in 2025, the 50th anniversary of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki in 1975. 

Not many had high hopes for that conference when it was held in the middle of the Cold War but it proved to be a turning point in the easing of tensions between the West and the East.

Global and local

Whatever alliance we belong to, we are neighbours of all the countries. We are condemned to work together to address our issues as they have become glocal: global and local. Dialogue and negotiation are mostly needed with those with whom we least agree. Today’s critical issues cannot be tackled effectively by any single country.

Calling for a conference might be dismissed with the argument that it would be a good idea in an ideal world but very naïve to expect it to be possible to call such a conference in the first place and then to expect it to yield successful outcomes if it is held. The Mediterranean region is full of complex realities and, even if you take one reality at a time, it is already difficult to resolve it, let alone to dream that you can resolve all the issues in a big bang conference dealing with all issues together.

Common responses weaker

Even the call for a multilateral conference on the Eastern Mediterranean has so far gone unheeded. Simply calling for hostile countries to sit together opens you to accusations of sleeping with the enemy. We have weakened the United Nations, international laws and are setting up alternative arrangements that often marginalise those we disagree with. We are often asked to propose innovative diplomacy for the 21st century. But how about a good dose of Basil Liddell Hart’s old-fashioned diplomacy: “Keep strong, if possible. In any case, keep cool. Have unlimited patience. Never corner an opponent and always assist him to save his face. Put yourself in his shoes.”

Can the EU be so short-sighted as to abandon the Mediterranean and Africa on its southern doorstep to other global and regional powers?

Fernand Braudel says that the Mediterranean speaks with many voices, with each voice and sea having its own geography, history and meaning often putting it at odds with its neighbour. Instead of working together and looking for a painful compromise, we choose the easier path of distrust.

Zero-sum games

How can complex issues such as those in the Mediterranean be solved if they continue to be lived as zero-sum games? Such conflicts and the armaments industry continue to feed on each other as tensions among neighbours drive the arms trade, while diplomacy plays only second fiddle. This trade continued to thrive even during COVID-19, with some countries finding money to buy arms but not enough funds to support their vaccine programme.

How can we deal with issues like migration in a comprehensive manner if we do not get both shores of the Mediterranean to work closer together on effective border management, fighting human trafficking, returning illegal migrants to their countries, providing shelter for those who qualify for asylum and building equal terms of trade with African countries to create wealth and jobs for those who have to look for them in Europe?

We need to overcome our eurocentrism and all colonial hangovers with Africa and must learn to behave differently, looking on Africans as partners, Africa as a continent of opportunities. Drawing a lesson of why the US got the Vietnam War wrong, Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara says: “Our misjudgements of friend and foe, alike, reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture and politics of the people.”

There is very little regional economic integration between both shores of the Mediterranean. Out of 500 million people living in the region, more than 25 million are unemployed.

The number of young people not in education has continued to increase. Economic growth and inclusive politics are necessary if social unrest and failed states are not to spread across the region.

Our climate emergency

The climate emergency is hitting the Mediterranean more than other parts of the world as this summer’s wildfires raging across the region have shown us very clearly. The Mediterranean is warming up faster than the rest of the planet. Unless we address this emergency as soon as possible, this soft security issue will become a hard security threat, compounding the region’s geopolitical challenges with natural disasters, water and food shortages rising sea levels, uninhabitable areas, and human migration.

The Mediterranean is a gateway to Europe, Africa and Asia. But the European Union cannot afford to neglect the Mediterranean and Africa as this will also be Africa’s century on the basis of its population and economic growth. The African Continental Free Trade Area will connect 1.3 billion people across 55 countries, making it the largest free trade area in the world, if the necessary policy reforms and trade facilitation measures are implemented.

Can the European Union be so short-sighted as to abandon the Mediterranean and Africa on its southern doorstep to other global and regional powers?

Evarist Bartolo, minister for Foreign and European Affairs