On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Since then, the global health crisis has unfolded triggering wide-ranging implications. Besides the public health damages, the pandemic also has socio-economic implications, making some groups of people more vulnerable to the crisis. Refugees and internally displaced populations, for example, are more exposed to the risks of outbreaks as well as more vulnerable to its economic implications.

As with other crisis situations, the COVID-19 pandemic has put significant pressure on governments around the world to respond to a rapidly evolving situation with many unknown variables. In this context, parliaments play a key role in advising and overseeing the work of governments, ensuring the measures put in place to contain the pandemic are in line with the people’s needs. More broadly, parliaments can contribute to shaping solutions for “building back better”.

• How is the pandemic affecting the countries of the region? And if and how can it represent an opportunity for cooperation between them?
• How to ensure that the Mediterranean remains an “open sea” and that the legitimate economic and strategic interest of the coastal countries do not generate conflicts?
• How to guarantee that the Mediterranean remains a “safe sea” and peaceful, and that conflicts are resolved through negotiated solutions, such as to ensure stability and security for a long time?
• What common initiatives should be undertaken to combat climate change and threats to biodiversity such as the marine litter, which loom over the Mediterranean ecosystem?
• What common initiatives should be undertaken to govern migratory flows and prevent the Mediterranean turn from a sea of life and hope into a sea of shipwreck and death?
• How to structure an ongoing dialogue between the Parliaments of the riparian states in such a way as to start a constant cooperation capable of preventing crises and instability in a multilateral perspective?

This event is by invitation only.