ETHNIC MINORITIES AND SEGREGATION IN CIIES. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CASE OF LISBOA WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE - The present paper offers an analysis of the socio-ethnic spatial segregation process that has taken place in the Lisbon Metropolitan Region throughout the last 25 years. This process is analysed within the framework of the contemporary chages affecting the European metropolis and particularly those located in the Southern zone of the EU. The first part discusses the features of socio-ethnic segregation in the metropolises of Europe, bearing in mind North-American references. Within this line of thought, it is argued that the uniqueness of Southern European metropolis as well as its specific immigratory context lead to relatively original patterns of segregation. In the second part, the features of the contemporary socio-ethnic segregation of the Lisbon conurbation are presented as a case-study from Southern Europe. The confrontation of the different ethnic spaces of the Portuguese metropolis as well as the increase in the values of the segregation indices registered in the last decade are discussed herein. The final part tries to place the ethnic segregation issue within the framework of the ongoing restructuring urban process, offering a short overview of a few possible evolutionary trends