On April 26th, 2024 at 2:00pm (EST) the Global Policy Institute (GPI) and Bay Atlantic University (BAU) held an event titled “EU Security and Defense Policy in the Greater Mediterranean” via Zoom and in-person.
The “Greater Mediterranean” is a vast area that includes the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It is now viewed by the European Union as a single theatre, with increasing threats to European and global security. Over the past few years, tensions in the Greater Mediterranean have escalated due to a combination of conflicts, governance shortcomings, and economic difficulties. The recent Houthi attacks on international commerce vessels is the most recent example.
In 2009 the EU launched its Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), with several military operations in its periphery. Its three ongoing naval operations – all of them under Italian Navy command — are in the Greater Mediterranean. They include EU Naval Forces in Somalia, deployments in the Red Sea against the Houthi and support for the UN embargo on Libya. GPI hosted to discuss this topic Dr. Maurizio Geri, a seasoned expert on EU and NATO security who is also a Reserve Officer in the Italian Navy, who also analyzed the ongoing naval operations and the EU overarching goal to safeguard security in these strategically vital areas.
About the speaker:
Dr. Maurizio Geri is a GMU-SCHAR School postdoctoral researcher and an Italian Navy lieutenant reservist (POLAD for Naval General Staff).
He has been granted the prestigious EU Marie Curie fellowship for 3 years: 2024 at GMU in Washington DC, 2025 at VUB and German Marshall Fund in Brussels, and 2026 at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. His research focuses on the EU-NATO cooperation in dual use Emerging Disruptive Technologies to avoid Russian hybrid warfare, in the energy-resources-climate security nexus.
Dr Geri is a senior strategic analyst in international security and a former analyst for different NATO bodies, to include ACT in the US, HQ in Brussels and NATO CMRE/Strategic Direction-South HUB in Italy.
He holds a PhD in International Security from Old Dominion University in Virginia, a MA in Cultural Studies and a BA in International Relations from the University of Florence, Italy and he published a book and several articles, both academic and journalistic.
About the moderator:
Paolo von Schirach became President of the Global Policy Institute, GPI, in 2016. He is also Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bay Atlantic University, BAU, in Washington DC. He previously served as Department Chair for Political Science and IR at BAU. Areas of expertise: US politics and economics, international security, NATO affairs, the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, US-China relations, Africa, terrorism, oil and gas and renewable energy.
Paolo von Schirach is the Founder and Editor of the Schirach Report, an online publication focusing on politics, economics and international security. Von Schirach is a frequent lecturer, TV and radio commentator, on US foreign and domestic politics and global issues. Media: He is frequently on Alhurra TV, Asharq News, BBC Arabic, TG5 (Italy), Cairo TV, Sky News Arabia, Newsy, France 24, and other networks.
Career: For more than 25 years von Schirach worked in emerging markets as Team Leader and Senior Expert managing investment and trade promotion programs. Prior to that he was a Research Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, which was followed by filling the role of Director of Communications, and later on Senior Research Fellow, at the Atlantic Council. He was Deputy Director of the Global Security Project at Georgetown University, and Vice President for International Programs at Intelx, an institution focusing on international education. He was an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Program of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, (MSFS). He has been a frequent lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute, (FSI), the U.S. Federal Government’s primary foreign affairs training institution. Education: von Schirach holds higher degrees from Georgetown University where he was also a Fulbright Scholar and Fellow in the Government Department, the London School of Economics, the University of Pisa, Italy, and the Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa.