Table Of ContentCHALLENGES AHEAD
IN THE
EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGION
Lisbon 11 october 2016
2 | MED7 SEMINAR
MED7 SEMINAR
MED7 SEMINAR | 3
Title
MED 7 Seminar – Challenges Ahead in the Euro-Mediterranean Region – Lisbon
Publishers
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal 
Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Lisbon
Editor
Thalia Petrides
Graphic concept
EuropressLab
Printed by
Europress - Indústria Gráfica, Lda.
Legal deposit
420030/17
ISBN: 978-989-97964-1-6
ISBN: 978-989-97964-2-3  (ePub)
4 | MED7 SEMINAR
MED7 SEMINAR
CHALLENGES AHEAD
IN THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGION
LISBON 11 OCTOBER 2016
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CoNTENTS
Contents
Preface  9
A Brief history of MED7  11
MED7 Member States  13
The Republic of Portugal  15
The Kingdom of Spain  19
The Republic of France  23
The Republic of Malta  25
The Republic of Italy  29
The Hellenic Republic (Greece)  33
The Republic of Cyprus  37
MED7 Seminar – Program, Welcome Remarks and Keynote Speech  43
Artur Santos Silva  47
Thalia Petrides  51
Margarida Marques  55
Augusto Santos Silva  59
Composition of Panels and Presentations  67
Presentations in PANEL I  77
Francesco Franco  79
Theodore Panayotou  89
Marianna Papadopoulou  101
Presentations in PANEL II  109
Gabriel Busquets  111
Gurvan Le Bras  117
Walter Mallia  121
Rui Vinhas  127
Presentations in PANEL III  133
Miguel Garcia-Herraiz  135
Kim Kreilgaard  141
Martin Ortega  145
Concluding Remarks  149
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CoNTENTS
The Seminar in Photos  153
Reference Documents and Information Material  165
Reference Documents  167
1st informal Ministerial Meeting of the “Med7 Group”, Alicante, 
Spain, 16 April 2014  169
Ministerial meeting of the «Mediterranean» group 
(Paris, 20 February 2015)  173
3rd informal Ministerial Meeting of the “Med7 Group”, Limassol, 
Cyprus, 25-26 February 2016  177
Athens Declaration of the 1st Mediterranean EU Countries’ 
Summit, Athens, Greece, 9 September 2016  183
General Information About  189
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation  191
Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais  197
The European Investment Bank  199
Union for the Mediterranean  205
Editorial Note  209
Acknowledgements  211
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PREfACE
PREFACE
During more than two millennia, even if not totally continuous in time, the 
Mediterranean Sea lied at the very heart of the Western World. Carrying 
goods,  connecting  people  and  conveying  ideas  and  knowledge,  it 
decisively contributed to the gradual consolidation of a common space 
where the shared the values of Classical Antiquity were in fact to become 
one of the fundamental pillars of European culture. 
Today, within the EU, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece and 
Cyprus share many values and interests. Therefore, it makes perfectly good 
sense for these like-minded countries to get together to discuss and 
concert positions on issues of shared concern. This was the basis for the 
MED7 Group, launched in 2013 at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 
and since then much has occurred in Europe and beyond its shores. 
Some distracted or suspicious observers might ask themselves which are 
the motives behind these meetings and I can elucidate these interrogations 
by pointing out at least two basic reasons. 
The first one has to do the growing importance of regional informal groups 
within the EU. In our point of view, these groupings should not supersede 
the EU’s institutions but solely provide an additional forum for discussion 
among partners with special affinities. And, as I have pointed out, this is 
clearly the case with Southern EU countries. 
The  second  motive  is  related  to  the  increasing  relevance  of  the 
Mediterranean in the European agenda: migrations, security or energy 
have become paramount issues of the EU institutions and all of them 
require a strong cooperation between the North and the South of the 
Mediterranean, following the example of the 5+5 Dialogue (involving 
Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia 
and Libya).
In fact, truth be told, we have to recognize that, despite our common 
heritage, at times the Mediterranean Sea has also functioned as a wall, 
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PREfACE
separating the destinies of regions and peoples sharing a very significant 
cultural heritage. Therefore, bridging this long-lasting gap is also one of  
the main challenges we face nowadays, particularly taking into account  
the shared interest of all European States in the stability of our neighbour- 
hood. 
Considering this broad interdependence among the regions encompassed 
by the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the sizeable challenges affecting in 
particular the southern EU members-states, the idea of organizing a MED7 
seminar naturally emerged as an imperative during one of the working 
lunches  which  are  regularly  held  between  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
European Affairs and the MED7 countries’ Ambassadors based in Lisbon 
(similarly to what occurs in other capitals of the members of this group). 
On this occasion, I would like to thank them and their countries, once again, 
for the fruitful joint collaboration in this endeavour. And in particular, I wish 
to praise the Ambassador of Cyprus, Thalia Petrides, for all her determination 
and commitment to this project, in which she was deeply involved from 
the beginning to its completion. All together, we were able to lay the 
foundations for valuable debates and have laid ground for future work in 
several domains. From all perspectives, I think it is fair to claim success.
Margarida Marques
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Description:MED 7 Seminar – Challenges Ahead in the Euro-Mediterranean Region – Lisbon  Athens Declaration of the 1st Mediterranean EU Countries'.