The Priorities of Spain’s EU Presidency in the Mediterranean: Ideal and Reality

Spain’s EU Presidency poses major challenges for the country’s interests and strategic clout in the Mediterranean, in the new regional geopolitical context that has emerged in the wake of the creation of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

Above and beyond the developments in the disputes that are ongoing in the region, in which Spain has very limited scope for influence, Spain ‘is eagerly awaited’ and is expected to bring the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) back on track after two years of strong leadership –often to the extent of unilateralism– from France, and unprecedented political deadlock since the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was first launched in 1995. Spain’s prestige and strategic position in the region are at stake: if Spain confines its role to simply ‘managing’ the UfM during its term at the helm of the EU, without giving it a firm political boost based on specific proposals and initiatives, it will have let what is almost certainly a unique opportunity slip by. Its contribution could be more efficient in relation to institutional aspects or in defining and monitoring certain priority sector-specific strategies than in purely political-diplomatic matters.