Development through integration? EU aid reform and the evolution of Mediterranean aid policy

Abstract

AbstractThe recipient states for Mediterranean aid are the middle‐income Arab countries of the Mediterranean littoral. Due to the region's importance for Europe there is a comprehensive EU strategy for the region and this has shaped Mediterranean aid policy more than the EU's generic aid policy reforms, although these have also had an impact. The EU's approach to developing these countries is to instigate liberal economic reform and integrate them economically with Europe. This takes the form of a regional free trade area and bilateral integration with the EU's single market. Mediterranean aid from 2001 to 2007 has been targeted at supporting and enabling reform in key sectors. A crude form of allocative (rewards‐based) conditionality has been applied. Assistance is thus more focused and coherent with EU policy than before. The Country Strategy Paper format and the organisational reforms of the aid programme facilitated this, but the political importance given to the Mediterranean area is the major reason. In any case, the broader reform and development strategy is not a success, as there is little sign that partial integration with Europe will enable economic development. While there is a new, post‐2006, aid instrument for the region this is not fundamentally different to its predecessor. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.