The Senate Committee for European Union Policies is holding an international meeting to consider and discuss "New paradigms of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation twenty years after the Barcelona Declaration", to coincide with the completion of a fact-finding inquiry into how the European Union is projecting its presence in the mediterranean area

Florence, Regional Council of Tuscany (26 October 2015)

With the collaboration of the Regional Council of Tuscany, the event will be held in Florence on 26 October next. Organised for the participation of delegations from the national parliaments of the European Union the meeting is also open to delegates from regional and local authorities, as well as to emissaries from European institutions and representatives from cultural bodies and businesses.

At a time when the European Union is reshaping its Neighbourhood Policy, which relates also to the Mediterranean area, it seems appropriate to organise this meeting in Florence to further the debate on Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and discuss the adoption of a new approach that takes account of the area's altered economic, geopolitical and security circumstances, and considers the expectations of the various parties on the two shores of the Mediterranean, be they central governments or regional and local authorities.

The meeting will be divided into three sessions:

• Multilevel Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and the role of regional and local authorities;

• New paradigms for trade and migration flows between the two shores of the Mediterranean;

• The shared cultural and religious values of the peoples of the Mediterranean.