The Optimum Strategy for a Spoke: Linking with Other Spokes or Other Hubs?

Abstract

This chapter on policy is based on some analytical thinking and some practical experience gained by Israel over recent years. This country has, since the mid-1980s, adopted a strategy which conforms pretty well to the theoretical line followed later in the chapter. After reviewing Israel’s experience (section I), I explore the relationships of a Mediterranean Non-Member Country (MNMC) so-called ‘spoke’ (e.g. Israel) with the two relevant so-called ‘hubs’ (the EU and the US) in the developed world (section II). I look then into the inadequacies of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) agreed upon in Barcelona in 1995 between the EU and 12 MNMCs (section III) and the different strategies open to deepen the EMP (section IV). The question arises then as to what any MNMC should try to do regarding relations with its neighbouring countries, i.e. other MNMC spokes and other non-member countries in the EU’s periphery (section V). Ranking the different options in terms of policy priorities is presented by way of conclusion.