October 15, 2025. On the occasion of the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels 2025, the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion (AIE) had the privilege of organising a session entitled “New Pact for the Mediterranean – Challenges and Perspectives between Cohesion and Enlargement.”

Photos by EWRC team: #EURegionsWeek

The political debate took place at the European Committee of the Regions, organised in partnership with the Med Cooperation Alliance, a joint initiative promoted by Adriatic Ionian Euroregion, Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, Euroregion Pyrenees–Mediterranean, MedCities and Generalitat de Catalunya.

The event was moderated by Elodie Nunes, Executive Secretary of the Intermediterranean Commission (CPMR), and featured an outstanding panel composed of:

Dubravka Šuica, European Commissioner for the Mediterranean;
Nikola Dobroslavić, President of the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion;
Margalida Prohens, President of the Government of the Balearic Islands and of the Eurorégion Pyrénées Méditerranée;
Jaume Duch Guillot, Minister for EU and Foreign Action of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The discussions addressed various dimensions of the New Pact for the Mediterranean — including its thematic orientations, governance, and funding.

The official Communication The Pact for the Mediterranean: One Sea, One Pact, One Future was issued the following day, on October 16, 2025.

This initiative represents a crucial step toward a more structured and forward-looking cooperation framework across the basin, aiming to strengthen political dialogue, foster socio-economic development, and promote territorial cohesion between all shores.

According to Commissioner Šuica, the Pact will have a special focus on young people — their future, their potential, and their right to stay. Through education, training, and skills development initiatives (notably via the Mediterranean University and Talent Partnerships), the Pact aims to empower youth to build meaningful lives and careers in their home regions.

While Commissioner Šuica detailed the main axes of the Pact — People, Economy, Security, Resilience, and Migration — Nikola Dobroslavić, Margalida Prohens, and Jaume Duch Guillot underlined the paramount importance of involving Local and Regional Authorities in its governance and implementation dynamics.

More specifically, they advocated for the adoption of a Macro-Regional Strategy approach, allowing better coordination of actions among various voluntary territories and countries to address shared challenges. As CoR Rapporteur for the Mediterranean Macro-Regional Strategy, Nikola Dobroslavić stressed the importance of possibly adopting the fifth macro-regional strategy of the European Union.

The Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance partners will carefully review the Communication on the New Pact to ensure close follow-up on how Local and Regional Authorities can support its implementation. They believe that successful impacts on the ground seldom occur without the strong contribution of decision-makers at regional and local level.

The MedCoopAlliance’s reactions to the Communication will be released soon.