The Barcelona Process was launched in 1995 with the aim to strengthen relations between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean countries, in the framework of an enhanced Euro-Mediterranean association that contributes to achieve peace and security in the region.

The Union for the Mediterranean was launched by a decision of the UfM Heads of State and Government in Paris in July 2008.

The UfM Secretariat was created in Barcelona in 2010 serving as the operational institution that empowers the regional dialogue among the UfM Member States and stakeholders, fostering synergies and coordination among them and promoting regional projects and initiatives with a direct impact on the lives of the citizens.

The spark to found a Euro-Mediterranean Youth Movement started during the North-Africa Sub Regional Seminar on Youth Policies from the 10th to the 13th of December 2012 in Hammamet, Tunisia. The Seminar was organized in the framework of the leading experience towards a Mediterranean University on Youth and Global Citizenship, organized by North South Center of the Council of Europe.

EMYF was founded as non-governmental organization on the 9th of April 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. The initiative to establish the Euro-Med Youth Federation launched during the side discussions of the second edition of the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Forum which took place from the 4th to the 7th of April 2013 in Marseille, France, the “European Capital of Culture” for 2013 at the Venue Pharo Palace.

In August 2017 in the framework of the International Youth Day, the Federation headquarter moved to Berlin, Germany. A group of the Cultural Innovators Network developed new activities, increased the number of partnerships and extended our regional networks.

Furthermore, the Roadmap “The Union for the Mediterranean: an action-driven organization with a common ambition” adopted during the second UfM Regional Forum, held in January 2017, by Ministers of Foreign Affairs and representatives from the 42 Euro-Med Member States