<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, defended this Monday before the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, that peace and stability in the Middle East must be “a priority of European policy” in this “key year” of 2025.</strong></h4> Albares received the European Commissioner at the ministerial headquarters of the Viana Palace, in Madrid. Later, both held a three-way meeting with the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Nasser Kamel. “We support the Pact for the Mediterranean. Cooperation between the EU and our friends on the southern shore contributes decisively to the stability and prosperity of the entire region,” declared Albares through social networks in relation to his meeting with the Croatian Commissioner. “It is essential that the EU strengthen the UfM, a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation,” he added in another message related to the meeting with Šuica and Kamel. During the meeting with the Commissioner, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release, Albares insisted that 2025 is “a key year for the Mediterranean”, in which “peace in the Middle East and the stability of the region must be a priority of European policy”. For all these reasons, Albares expressed to Commissioner Šuica his satisfaction with the creation of the commissionership for the Mediterranean and reaffirmed Spain's willingness to contribute to strengthening the EU's Mediterranean policy. He also conveyed Spain's willingness to collaborate with the Commission so that the new Pact for the Mediterranean allows the full potential of the relationship between the EU and the Southern Neighbourhood to be exploited. To achieve this, she warned, clear initiatives are needed in key sectors such as training and employment, connectivity, trade and investments, clean energy and security, as well as a decisive commitment and greater resources from the EU to strengthen regional institutions, in particular the Union for the Mediterranean. <h5><strong>The UfM</strong></h5> In particular, Albares and the European Commissioner also met jointly with the Secretary General of the UfM to analyse the challenges facing the Mediterranean and the opportunities that arise in this year 2025, "which could constitute a turning point for the region." In addition to commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the Barcelona Process, the Foreign Ministry indicated that Spain will continue to support the EU's Mediterranean policy in 2025, with the preparation and subsequent adoption of the Pact for the Mediterranean, as well as the strengthening of the UpM, with the culmination of a reform process initiated in 2023. In this regard, Albares took advantage of the three-way meeting to recall that, in 2025, the UpM is called upon to complete the reform process initiated two years ago, promoted by Spain and France. This process, he said, will be reflected in a new Roadmap that should be approved at the tenth Regional Forum. Likewise, the minister assured that Spain is pursuing the strengthening of the regional partnership and the UpM, the only regional organization that brings together "on an equal footing" the 27 EU Member States and 16 countries from the east and south of the Mediterranean.
