Project Objectives

The Euro- Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) is clearly an ambitious effort to achieve better regional governance through the development of an interlinked set of fundamental institutions in the Mediterranean Basin.

The GO-EuroMed project’s specific target is to improve political and economic understanding of these regional institution building and management strategies, particularly in the key trade, investment and labour sectors. The project’s central theme – the ‘red line’ – is to bring European and Mediterranean perspectives together in order to investigate ways in which collaboration and coordination problems can be clarified and overcome. Institutional governance frameworks offering real benefits to the states and peoples of Europe and the south Mediterranean can be then be developed.

Project Goals and Methodological Approaches

The GO-EuroMed project has several scientific, policy, and dissemination goals which will be addressed at different times over the duration of the project. Some of these goals relate to specific issues that are addressed in individual Working Packages. Others are more open-ended, and will be pursued throughout the project as a whole. The fundamental issue of why the Barcelona Process has achieved mixed results to date, and how it can be strengthened in its second decade, will lie behind all research during the three years of the project. Similarly, the issues raised by shifting geographical and mental ‘maps’ in the Mediterranean basin, and how these influence trans-Mediterranean perspectives, will flavour ongoing dialogue and exchange between consortium members. The project consortium, drawn from economics and political science institutes on both sides of the Mediterranean, is ideally balanced to provide unique insights into this sensitive area. Answers to these questions will be delivered in the form of working papers and reports, and debated at conferences and workshops, from month 1 to month 36.

Project Milestones

The GO-EuroMed project’s major milestones are its conferences and related publications, its deliverable Working Package Reports, its annual management and scientific progress reports, its workshops and its Public Awareness Local Meetings (PALMs).

Conferences will take place in Berlin, Istanbul, Cairo and Brussels. Scholars will present scientific and policy papers, and these will be published as an edited volume in the month following each conference.

Six workshops, each consisting of one or more Working Package level meetings, will take place during the 36 months duration of the project. These events will take place in Warsaw, Orléans, Amman, Berlin, Tunis and Madrid. Each partner will hold two Public Awareness Local Meetings. These events will take place in the member institute’s home city, will be conducted in local languages, and will be a major dissemination vehicle for the project’s results.

Measures of Success

The GO-EuroMed project will measure success in four ways: scientific output, policy findings, deeper trans-Mediterranean research cooperation, and dissemination among and beyond the research community.

The project’s policy findings will improve the knowledge base available to policymakers on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. Reports will be submitted to the European Commission, and may in some cases be made available to interested parties at national and local levels in individual states. The extent to whether the project influences national and Community policy directly will be determined by policymakers themselves – however, it is expected that GO-EuroMed’s policy relevance is such that the project’s findings will attract the attention of policymakers throughout the region.