Critical Perspectives on Euro-Mediterranean Relations after the “Arab Spring”

Abstract

The essay points out that the transformations caused by the uprisings of the “Arab Spring” imply thenecessity of rethinking the history of the Euro-Mediterranean relations – since the Treaty of Rome(1957) until the Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2015 – and of reconsidering theirfuture perspectives. In these relations the cultural legacy of colonialism is still very strong through theinfluence that the western powers have continued to exercise towards the postcolonial States both inAfrica and the southern shore of Mediterranean. In particular the study outlines the colonial concernsthat played central role in the establishment of the EEC in 1957 through the association agreementswith the postcolonial States in the frame of the project called “Eurafrica”.The overcoming of the colonial heritage ought to radically change the European protectionist policiesand the conditionality clause towards the countries of the southern shore of Mediterranean in orderto realise a condition of interdependence and a real partnership of equals in the common space ofMediterranean. In this perspective, a different migration policy which considers the migrant as atransnational actor able to contribute to the development of both his country of origin and of thereceiving one is also necessary.