in the North African Arab world, democracy has been trying to sprout serenely through real parliaments. Some, if not all of them, have been working first and foremost as constituent assemblies, formulating constitutions where, in theory laced by hope, the absolutist conditions enjoyed only by the dictators would be forever abolished.In such a setting, the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly holds a privileged, if highly responsible, position both as a model of democratic governance as well as a gathering place where states are encouraged to emulate the more 'democratic' among them. Speakers/Presidents of the nascent and the older Parliaments could galvanise this institution to take a major role in the Union for the Mediterranean, so that parliamentary democracy is seen as a real dialogic instrument for peace. To that goal this TELOS is dedicated.