Discovering the Mediterranean (and tapping into its pro-European attitudes)

The Elcano Royal Institute is a think-tank for international and strategic studies that analyses world events and trends from a Spanish, European and global perspective.

The Elcano Royal Institute's Expert Comments are 1,000- to 1,500 word pieces produced by the Elcano Royal Institute's analysts as an immediate response to international events relevant to Spain.
The group of seven southern EU countries that recently held a summit in Madrid was founded slightly over three years ago in Brussels. Specifically, the founding took place on 16 December 2013, when the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Cyprus, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal met on the sidelines of a Foreign Affairs Council session at the Permanent Representation of Cyprus to create an informal forum for exchanging views on matters related to the integration process. At that time, although Mario Draghi had already uttered his ‘whatever it takes’ to save the euro and a coalition government had just been formed in Germany promising less austerity, the economic situation of the southern members of the Eurozone was dire.