The second regional forum of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), with the theme of "the common development agenda for the Mediterranean", started work in Barcelona during the evening of Monday 23 January, with young people being the main focus of discussion.
Young people are "the future of the Mediterranean and are also here", said Irène Mingasson, who is in charge of cooperation with the Mediterranean region at the European Commission. She thus wanted to underline the breadth of the challenge to be tackled. This must be done right away, starting from today, she said.
"We can't fail", European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn stated. "There is no way of tackling the unemployment and disillusionment or instability" that is feeding the current turmoil on the southern shore "without working with young people". In Hahn's view, this is "the urgent need of our times" or there is a risk of creating "frustrated generations".
The context was given repeatedly and underpinned all the speeches on the second day of the forum (Tuesday). Everyone wanted to show that the time had come to move from words to actions, despite the weakness of means for fulfilling the dream of "an area of shared peace and prosperity" in the region.
The most urgent goal is young people, it was repeatedly stated. Young people are both the source of the problems – due especially to the desperation that is driving people to illegal immigration, or worse, to radicalisation – and also a "source of creativity, innovation and positive changes, as soon as an environment allows young people to participate fully" in the decisions and economic life of their country and region, the UfM said. The aim is to invest in human capital, sustainable development, education and trade.
"The employability of young people is a fundamental challenge for the whole Euro-Mediterranean region", when currently nearly 60% of the population of the southern Mediterranean region is less than 30 years old. The rate of demographic change is swift, with 2.8 million young people entering the job market every year. "A 50% cut in the youth unemployment rate would lead to €25 billion in growth in the region's GDP", the UfM estimates. The breadth of the current challenges – youth employment and also "investment needs" estimated by the EIB at €23 billion annually until 2020 – "requires regional solutions more than ever", for which the UfM would like to be the project supervisor. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)