Genesis, historical evolution and operation

Dialogue 5+5 is an informal sub-regional forum for the Western Mediterranean that since 1990 has brought together five countries from the north (Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal) with five countries from the south (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia).

Although on France’s initiative the proposal to establish a format of reduced cooperation between the big four European Mediterranean states and the five of the Maghreb had already emerged strongly in 1988, it picked up momentum after the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union in 1989 and the launch of the Renewed Mediterranean Policy in 1990. The personal involvement of the prime ministers of the time of Italy and Spain, Bettino Craxi and Felipe González, was also decisive. Thus, a few months later, on 10 October 1990, the first official ministerial meeting of the new format took place in Rome. Malta participated in this first meeting as an observer country, to later become a full member the following year, resulting in five countries in each of the two parts.

Apart from the Western Sahara dispute, there was no major stumbling block to strengthening cooperation between the two groups. Therefore, eight work groups were set up to foster regional cooperation and address specific issues such as debt, cultural dialogue, technology and scientific research, among others. Following the tradition established in Rome, a year later a second ministerial meeting was held in Algiers (26-27 October 1991) to discuss the repercussions of the First Gulf War.

As this group had a reduced and intergovernmental format it seemed that it would focus on specific issues and establish dynamic cooperation, but after the first two ministerial meetings the dialogue reached an impasse of almost ten years due to the Algerian crisis that began in 1992 and the international isolation of Libya because of its involvement in the Lockerbie attack.

After the end of the Algerian crisis and the West’s reconciliation with Libya, the process resumed in Lisbon in January 2001, and since then there have been regular Dialogue 5+5 meetings of Foreign Affairs Ministers. In this way, alongside the aforementioned meetings (Rome in 1990, Algiers in 1991 and Lisbon in 2001) there have been the following meetings of Foreign Affairs Ministers: Tripoli (30 May 2002), Sainte-Maxime (9 and 10 April 2003), Oran (23 and 24 April 2004), La Valetta (June 2005), Rabat (20 and 21 January 2008), Córdoba (20 and 21 April 2009), Tunis (15 and 16 April 2010), Rome (20 February 2012), Nouakchott (16 April 2013), Lisbon (22 May 2014), Tangiers (7 October 2015) and Marseille (28 October 2016).

In the ministerial meeting in Sainte-Maxime, France, it was decided to promote, for the first time, a Summit of Heads of State and Government that took place on 5 and 6 December 2003 to lend visibility and solidity to this Western Mediterranean cooperation process. Previously, on 29 and 30 October that year in Saint-Symphorien-le-Château, an extraordinary ministerial meeting was held with the objective of commenting on the recent regional developments and in particular prepare the Summit of Heads of State and Government, an event that would consolidate the continuity of the initiative with the aim of encouraging peace, stability and development in the region.

Moreover, in the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers held in Rome, in a fully reformed political landscape at the height of political evolution in some countries of the region, it was formally decided to hold a second Summit of Heads of State and Government that would take place in La Valetta on 5 and 6 October 2012 with the participation of representatives of European and regional institutions.
Moreover, in the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers held in Rome, in a fully reformed political landscape at the height of political evolution in some countries of the region, it was formally decided to hold a second Summit of Heads of State and Government that would take place in La Valetta on 5 and 6 October 2012 with the participation of representatives of European and regional institutions.

Consequently, 5+5 Dialogue strictly speaking concerns the Heads of State and Government, who so far have only met twice, and the Foreign Affairs Ministers, whose last meeting (the twelfth after the reactivation of dialogue in 2001) was held in Tangiers on 7 October 2015. Until 2008, the presidency of the Dialogue was held in rotation by the country hosting the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers. In the meeting held in Rabat in 2008 it was decided that from the following year a co-presidency would be set up held by the outgoing presidency together with the presidency of the country hosting the ministerial meeting, both representatives of the group of northern and southern countries. Thus, the meeting in Córdoba in 2009 was co-presided by Morocco and Spain, and in 2016, the co-presidency was held by Morocco and France.

The ten countries also organise periodical sectoral ministerial conferences. Some of them, such as Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defence and Transport, began with a more reduced format and then expanded to the 5+5. The spheres in which initiatives have gradually crystallised are: interior (since 1995), migration (2002), parliamentary relations (2003), defence (2004), tourism (2006), transport (2007), education (2009) and the environment and renewable energies (2010).

It should be noted that 5+5 Dialogue does not have a permanent Secretariat, or its own financial instruments or mechanisms