The ancient’s world geopolitical center, the cradle of civilization,
the Mediterranean Basin; a unique location with some of the world’s most
important geostrategic corners.
Life has not been boring in the Basin and continues to be so. This region has been witnessing wars, revolutions, regime upheavals, political instability, religious conflicts, ethnic conflicts over democracy and freedom, conflicts both multilateral and bilateral… all of them with substantial repercussions on the financial activities taking place in the whole Mediterranean region.
Back in the 1990s, Europe was optimistically looking forward. The European Union was deliberating, proposing and setting forth strategies and ambitious targets for the not so distant future; the year 2010 was determined to be a milestone year.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED, or also known as the Barcelona Process) launched in 1995 with the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Barcelona, was the EU’s first comprehensive strategy for the region aiming at peace, stability and growth.
It had set the goal of establishing a multilateral cooperation project linking policy (democracy and security), economy (growth and financial cooperation) and society (culture, social rights and equality). Ambitious? I do recall among others the ambitious target for the area to become a free trade zone by 2010!
Similarly, the Lisbon Strategy called for goals such as that the EU would rank first in research and innovation by 2010, while at the same time reaching the goal of full employment! What an irony! We all recall that 2010 was the year we witnessed the Arab Spring and the Eurozone got deep into the financial crisis.
Both, the Lisbon Strategy and the Barcelona Process failed to meet expectations and to reach their respective targets.
Why did those noble goals not work out? When you click on the link below there are a few points that may help us understand the discrepancy between wish and ultimate outcome:
Read more: Anna Diamantopolou: The Mediterranean Gods Cannot Do It Alone
Life has not been boring in the Basin and continues to be so. This region has been witnessing wars, revolutions, regime upheavals, political instability, religious conflicts, ethnic conflicts over democracy and freedom, conflicts both multilateral and bilateral… all of them with substantial repercussions on the financial activities taking place in the whole Mediterranean region.
Back in the 1990s, Europe was optimistically looking forward. The European Union was deliberating, proposing and setting forth strategies and ambitious targets for the not so distant future; the year 2010 was determined to be a milestone year.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED, or also known as the Barcelona Process) launched in 1995 with the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Barcelona, was the EU’s first comprehensive strategy for the region aiming at peace, stability and growth.
It had set the goal of establishing a multilateral cooperation project linking policy (democracy and security), economy (growth and financial cooperation) and society (culture, social rights and equality). Ambitious? I do recall among others the ambitious target for the area to become a free trade zone by 2010!
Similarly, the Lisbon Strategy called for goals such as that the EU would rank first in research and innovation by 2010, while at the same time reaching the goal of full employment! What an irony! We all recall that 2010 was the year we witnessed the Arab Spring and the Eurozone got deep into the financial crisis.
Both, the Lisbon Strategy and the Barcelona Process failed to meet expectations and to reach their respective targets.
Why did those noble goals not work out? When you click on the link below there are a few points that may help us understand the discrepancy between wish and ultimate outcome:
Read more: Anna Diamantopolou: The Mediterranean Gods Cannot Do It Alone
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