By Margaux de Foy, Intern at the Euro-Mena Initiative
In recent months, both the EU and the MENA regions have held memorials marking the anniversaries of major terrorist attacks. These moments of remembrance are more than expressions of grief; they serve as reminders of what is at stake when cooperation weakens and how deeply security challenges continue to shape public expectations and diplomatic tensions.
This urgency was central to the EU–MENA Security Conference in Lisbon, held under the motto “Together, we are safer and stronger, shaping trust.” Policymakers, researchers, and civil-society actors discussed counter-terrorism, border governance, institutional coordination, and crisis management. Yet it was the emphasis on shaping trust that revealed the core challenge. Trust requires more than operational tools; it depends on transparent, shared narratives. Today, security is not only about capabilities; it is also about whose voice is heard, whose experience is acknowledged, and how both regions understand one another.
Shifting European Framings of the MENA Region
Europe’s approach to the Mediterranean and the wider MENA region has long been influenced by shifting narratives. At different moments, the region has been imagined as a threat, defined by wars, displacement, and radicalisation; as a challenge, a deeply interdependent space where governance and economic dynamics directly affect Europe; as a responsibility, tied to long histories and unresolved colonial legacies.
These framings are not minor nuances; they shape policy choices. A threat narrative encourages securitisation and border fortification; a responsibility narrative favours development cooperation; an opportunity narrative promotes diplomatic engagement. When these narratives coexist or fluctuate, trust becomes fragile, and security dialogues suffer from misunderstandings and misaligned expectations.
Knowledge Production and Hierarchies of Narratives
Behind political narratives lies a deeper structural issue: the hierarchy of knowledge production. For decades, research and expertise on the MENA region have predominantly been generated within European institutions, reflecting linguistic, disciplinary, and geopolitical biases. This often sidelines local voices and reinforces asymmetries in how the region is portrayed.
Knowledge creation should therefore be a more horizontal practice, resisting inherited North–South hierarchies and circulating across regions and disciplines like a permeable membrane, rather than being filtered through unequal structures of academic authority.
This dynamic is slowly shifting. Increasingly, MENA scholars work in European institutions, while European researchers collaborate closely within the MENA academic space. As mobility grows, the boundaries of “Europe” and “the Middle East” become more fluid, complicating simplistic distinctions about who is entitled to speak for which region. Researcher positionality, their social background, academic environment, and lived experience, shape how they interpret both Europe and the MENA region.
Yet despite these shifts, derogatory or reductive narratives about MENA societies persist. Its populations are too often portrayed as threats or crises, reflecting deeper hierarchies between languages, institutions, and geopolitical identities. When knowledge becomes securitised, it reinforces mistrust and undermines the neutrality of policy discussions.
Youth Narratives and the Politics of Perception
This narrative landscape also profoundly shapes how youth across both regions engage with security issues. In the MENA region, youth perceptions of the EU are increasingly filtered through the lens of current regional crises, particularly the Gaza conflict. Many young people do not judge European policies only through technical security cooperation but through principles: fairness, dignity, and whether international actors apply their values consistently. When European responses appear ambiguous or disconnected from lived realities, trust erodes rapidly.
The same dynamic plays out within Europe, especially among young members of diaspora communities who question their governments’ positions and demand greater transparency. These overlapping youth narratives influence public opinion, social mobilisation, and the political climate in which EU–MENA cooperation operates. Ignoring them risks building security partnerships that are maybe technically strong but socially fragile.
Security Cooperation Exists, but Narratives Still Undermine It
While the institutional architecture has expanded, narrative asymmetries continue to limit its potential. When one region is consistently framed as unstable or threatening, dialogue becomes less balanced, and cooperation becomes reactive rather than strategic. Even the most advanced mechanisms struggle to generate trust if public narratives reinforce stereotypes or convey suspicion.
Strengthening narratives does not mean denying security challenges; rather, it re-anchors cooperation in shared understanding and mutual respect. A more balanced narrative space would enable more constructive approaches to border governance, crisis management, and counter-terrorism.
Strategic Recommendations
- Create a Joint EU–MENA Narrative Observatory:
A regional platform tracking public sentiment, youth narratives, misinformation trends, and media framings, informing both security and diplomatic strategies. - Integrate Youth Dialogue into Security Policy Planning:
Not as symbolic consultations, but as structured, recurring mechanisms that allow young people to shape policy messaging. - Develop Shared Communication Protocols During Crises:
Ensuring both regions speak in a compatible language reducing narrative gaps during moments of heightened tension. - Support Storytelling Projects and Exchanges:
Fund youth-led media, cross-cultural journalism programmes, documentary initiatives, and social-media campaigns that humanize experiences across regions. - Institutionalize Transparency as a Policy Standard:
Clear explanations of stances, especially on sensitive issues like Gaza, must be integrated into long-term strategy, not handled reactively.