Euro-Mediterranean policies, as well as research on them, have been characterized by a Euro-centric approach based on a narrow geopolitical construction of the Mediterranean. Moreover, stakeholders, policy instruments, and policy issues have been defined from a European standpoint, marginalizing the perspectives and needs of local states and people, and ignoring the role played by new and powerful regional and global actors. In an increasingly multipolar world, overcoming this Euro-centric approach is key for Europe to play a more meaningful role in the region.

The project, to be completed by the end of December 2015, analyses the role of the OSCE as a political mediator and regional organization that promotes a kind of cooperative security, establishing a political dialogue to facilitate the development of energy resources, particularly in disputed areas (offshore), and ensuring an adequate and effective multilateral forum of discussion to launch initiatives for the joint exploitation of oil and gas.