Introduction

THE ENERGY COOPERATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN – OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES The political agenda of the Mediterranean region has been reshaped by recent events concerning climate change, food crises, swinging oil reserves and prices, the potential impact of the shale gas revolution, unstable financial markets, and social unrest. All these issues led to question the current pattern of development and ultimately to shift it toward sustainable development at different geographical scales: global, regional, national, and local. The growing complexity of the actors and layers involved calls for a new and different role for the existing (and traditional) governance structure as well as definition of the missing ones. While multilevel governance is the default choice under these circumstances, the characterization of the institutional actors involved in this process is not trivial and can be described as a dynamic process. In this context, a careful understanding of the implications of these wider dynamics for the Mediterranean region is of utmost importance for the countries concerned. It is often recalled that the Mediterranean Basin is a zone of trade and cultural exchange, but also of deep-rooted tension between the countries belonging to the three continents bordering it. Therefore, the region shows the main characteristics of the “world economy,” while preserving a peculiar national and local dimension. The Mediterranean has, however, huge potential to become a global laboratory for innovation and cooperation in the field of sustainable development, since it is engaged in an open multilateralism that represents a resource toward building a common future. This composite background has triggered the development of a “Mediterranean approach” for researchers working on this area, watching over the state of the environment in the Mediterranean and its future trends, yet lacking a systematic review in the many facets of the sustainable development debate (Rubino, 2014). Energy cooperation is one of the main pillars of this composite area of research that has profound ramifications on the economic, social, and environmental domain. The Mediterranean energy sector is currently facing multiple challenges because of the combination of institutional, technical, and social factors.