R. Coletti

1

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this paper is to offer an overview on two EU Region-building strategies for
Maritime cooperation in the Mediterranean Sea: the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic
and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) and the Western Mediterranean Initiative (WestMED).
In general terms, regional strategies are based on the definition of transnational areas of
cooperation which offer spaces for inter-institutional dialogue between the European Union and
third countries on topics of common interest (Coletti & Celata, 2013).
As we shall see, these strategies have been largely used by the European Union in the
relationship with its neighbouring countries, including in the Mediterranean. In this framework,
the peculiar characteristics of both the EUSAIR and the WestMED initiative are to be identified
in the wide involvement of stakeholders at different scales that these initiatives ensure, and in
the attempt to coordinate and create synergies among different programmes and funds. From
this point of view, the EUSAIR and the WestMED initiative may offer a specific added value
during the incoming 2021-2027 programming period of EU funds, as they offer a pre-defined
and agreed set of priorities where it is possible to focus efforts and resources with the aim of
obtaining more relevant and long-lasting results, including in the field of blue growth.
The paper is structured as follows: section two introduces policies and practices of EU
region-building in the Mediterranean. Sections three and four present the EUSAIR and the
WestMED initiative respectively. In section five, the main future opportunities and challenges
for the two initiatives are discussed, highlighting the contribution that they may offer to a
sustainable management of the Mediterranean Sea.

2

EU DRIVEN REGIONALIZATION PROCESSES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

The EUSAIR and the WestMED initiative, discussed in this brief contribution, are not the
first examples of regionalization processes in the Mediterranean; rather the EU has put in place
several initiatives of region-building in the area.
Firstly, we can say that the very policy frameworks adopted by the EU in the relationship
with its neighbouring countries determine different frameworks and regionalization throughout
the Mediterranean Sea. With a “territorial turn” adopted in 2007, the European Union has given
value to geographical proximity, by adopting the European Neighbourhood Policy for framing
the relationships with non-EU countries at EU Eastern border and in the Southern Shore of the
Mediterranean. The European Neighbourhood Policy has determined the creation of a
geographical category, the “European neighbourhood”, which includes all the recipient
countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy despite the profound differences that exist
among them (Aliboni, 2005; Dimitrovova, 2010); however, different applications and
approaches emerge respectively between the Eastern and Southern dimensions of the
Neighbourhood Policy (Coletti & Celata 2013; Celata & Coletti 2015). At the same time, the
Enlargement Policy applies to candidate and potential candidate countries in South Eastern
Europe, de facto creating a region in the heart of the European Union territory, as evident in
Picture 1.

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