This article is part of ASF’s 2022 annual report.
In 2018, ASF launched a regional hub in the Euro-Mediterranean region, based in Tunis, with the aim of pooling resources and strengthening and harmonising its action in the region. The innovative aspect of the regional office is to fully assume the historical, economic, political and cultural links that exist between the two shores of the Mediterranean, and to take them into account in order to put in place action at regional level that is coherent and efficient.
The Euromed Hub is made up of five members and the country directors for Morocco and Tunisia. It collects and analyses data from the field in order to guide decision-making processes at national and European level. The hub provides strategic guidance to the region’s offices and identifies opportunities for developing and consolidating partnership networks at both national and regional level. The hub also provides technical support to the country offices in terms of financial management and human resources.
Three eminently transnational and global issues, which in their own way shape relations between the two shores of the Mediterranean, have been identified as thematic priorities for the region:https://asf.be/development-of-regional-approaches-the-regional-hubs/
a) Migration: all the countries to the south of the Mediterranean are countries of origin (Tunisia, Morocco) and transit (Algeria, Libya) for migrants. On the European side, migration is taking up an inordinate amount of space in the public debate, and the policies implemented by the European Union and its member states flout the fundamental rights of migrants.
b) Freedom and security: the fight against terrorism and violent extremism can give rise to public policies that restrict freedoms and civic space and hinder democratic transitions and people’s fundamental freedoms. This is true for the south and the north of the Mediterranean Sea, where a proliferation of exceptions to the principle of the rule of law for health and security reasons is threatening the “consolidated democracies” of the European continent.
c) Combating the impunity of economic actors: economic interests maintain a system of dependence from the south to the north of the Mediterranean. The conduct of European economic players in Africa has a major impact on increasing social inequalities and on the environment, and can sometimes be a determining factor in conflict (at local, national and international level).
