Beforehand, he will preside over the award ceremony for the Princess of Girona School of the Year Award at the Purísima Concepción Special Education Center
King Felipe VI will inaugurate the Forum on the Future of the Mediterranean this Thursday, held at the Granada Congress Palace until Friday within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. This forum will bring together parliamentary representatives from member states to discuss migration movements, climate change, youth employment, and gender equality in the Mediterranean region, among other issues.
The opening session will begin at 12:30 with welcoming speeches from the President of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, and the President of the Senate, Pedro Rollán. Subsequently, the Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravkka Suica, will deliver a lecture on ‘The new Pact for the Mediterranean’. Finally, the King will address the audience.
Prior to this, Felipe VI will preside over the presentation of the Princess of Girona School of the Year Award at the Purísima Concepción Special Education Center in Granada, which caters to students with special educational needs such as functional diversity, cognitive, physical/motor, and emotional outburst control.
The King will visit the educational center and learn about the innovative projects they are working on, after the jury selected it for its «leadership in showcasing inspiring projects that lead us to a truly inclusive school». After the tour of the facilities, he will present the award to the center’s staff and students in a ceremony with families and the entire educational community.
FORUM
The first session of the Forum on the Future of the Mediterranean, starting at 2:30 PM, will focus on ‘The Alliance of Civilizations: peace and stability in the Mediterranean region’ and will be moderated by the President of the Congress, Francina Armengol.
Guest speakers for this session include the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel; the Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation, Josep Ferré; and the President of the Committee on Political Affairs, Security, and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, Giuseppe Antoci, who will present the conclusions of the Political Committee meeting on the situation in the Middle East.
This session will also feature a presentation from the Directorate-General for the Mediterranean of the European Commission on the role of the European Commission in addressing common challenges in the region. In the afternoon, at 4:00 PM, the second session of this parliamentary conference will focus on the specific challenges of migration in the Mediterranean.
It will be moderated by the President of the House of Representatives of Egypt, Hanafy Gibaly, and will also feature remarks from the Secretary of State for Migration, Pilar Cancela. Additionally, the 2025 Report of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) on ‘Territorial perspectives for the future of the Euro-Mediterranean agenda’ will be presented.
CLIMATE CHANGE, YOUTH EMPLOYMENT, AND EQUALITY
Friday’s agenda will commence at 10:00 AM with the third session of the Forum on the Future of the Mediterranean. Specifically, discussions will focus on climate change with the President of the House of Representatives of Morocco, Rachid Talvi El Alami. This session will also include the presentation of the ARLEM Report on ‘A sustainable energy transition for the Mediterranean’.
Youth employment and gender equality are other challenges to be addressed on this day. Starting at 11:30 AM, the Vice President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno, will moderate this session, with the participation of the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz.
Also participating will be the rapporteur of the European Economic and Social Committee on the opinion ‘Youth participation in social and civil dialogue in the Mediterranean region’, and the gender equality project manager in the Social and Civil Affairs Division of the Union for the Mediterranean, Anna Dorangricchia.
The closing session will take place on Friday starting at 1:00 PM and will feature interventions from the President of the House of Representatives of Egypt, Hanafy Gibaly; the President of the House of Representatives of Morocco, Rachid Talbi El Alami; the Vice President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno; and the President of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol. This parliamentary Forum will conclude with the adoption of the Declaration on the Future of the Mediterranean Forum.
On Wednesday, as part of the ‘Garden of Peace: The olive tree as a universal symbol of peace’ initiative, presidents and delegation heads have been invited to plant an olive tree from their region at the Palace of Carlos V.
INFORMATION
The Union for the Mediterranean, initially called the ‘Barcelona Process: Euro-Mediterranean Association’, is an international organization that currently brings together 43 countries. It has a European component, composed of all the EU Member States, and a Mediterranean component, made up of North African countries, the Balkans, and the Middle East.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (APUM) was created to assist, promote, and contribute to the consolidation and development of the Barcelona Process. Currently, the four co-presidencies of the Assembly for the period 2020-2026 are held by the European Parliament, the Moroccan Parliament, the Spanish Cortes Generales, and the Egyptian Parliament.
The topic chosen by the Spanish presidency for the meetings of the 2024-2025 period is the migration situation in the Mediterranean from a comprehensive perspective.
Based on this, the Spanish Cortes Generales will hold sectoral meetings during their presidency that aim to address all issues related to migration in a comprehensive manner, with the participation of the presidents and vice presidents of the Parliaments that are members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, as well as other invited international organizations.
In this context, in January, Lanzarote hosted a meeting of parliament presidents from Southern EU and North African countries where a joint declaration was adopted to address economic, humanitarian, and developmental policies to more effectively manage migratory flows.