«We need to emphasise the concrete impact of institutional actions: we need to look at it from the citizen's perspective». Fathallah Sijilmassi, secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean, has no doubts on the real challenge for Institutions today: to perform concrete actions, so that the achieved results can be “seen”.

The UfM – cross-national organization born in 2008 to foster the rapprochement of the two Mediterranean shores – is committed exactly to achieving important results, in terms of cooperation, integration and development. «A lot of institutions are working in the countries within the Euro-Mediterranean area – highlights Sijilmassi – and each one of them is engaged in different activities: in order to communicate the achieved goals, I think we need to put ourselves in the citizen's shoes, and we need to commit all together following this direction».

Interviewed on occasion of the NextMed conference, organised by the Sardinia Region (managing authority of the cross-border cooperation programme ENPI CBC MED), Sijilmassi also shared his “dream” of a future where these meetings can take place with “reversed roles”: «Imagine the decision makers sitting among the audience and the citizens, the young, leading the debate».