Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Research Articles

The European Union’s public diplomacy towards the South Mediterranean: intercultural dialogue and power relations in the Euro–Mediterranean partnership

The aftermath of the Arab uprisings, the rise of Da’esh and the refugee crisis have placed the European Union’s interdependence with its southern neighbours on the spotlight, giving a renewed emphasis to the dialogue of cultures that forms part of the third basket of the Euro–Mediterranean Partnership. From a dialogical model of public diplomacy, this paper analyses the quality of the intercultural dialogue between the EU and the South Mediterranean employing the Anna Lindh Foundation as a case study. The overarching claim of this paper is that power is a social structure that resides in the dialogue itself and thus rejects the view that genuine dialogue needs to be power free. In order to empirically investigate this question, this paper employs Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis to study what spaces have been created for intercultural dialogue (strategies), and on what terms they have been defined (narratives).

ЕВОЛЮЦІЯ БАГАТОСТОРОННЬОГО СПІВРОБІТНИЦТВА КОРОЛІВСТВА МАРОККО ТА ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО СОЮЗУ: ВІД ПОЛІТИЧНОГО ДО ЦІННІСНОГО ВИМІРУ

The article focuses on one of the current areas of European Union cooperation within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, namely with the Kingdom of Morocco. The official Rabat has both a historical basis for cooperation with the EU (colonial past) and an established dialogue with the European Union from associate membership to the acquisition of a special partnership status in 2008. The purpose of Morocco’s special status in the EU is to: strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the field of politics and security; gradual integration of Morocco into the EU internal market through approximation of legislation and regulations. The main directions and areas of multilateral cooperation between Morocco and the EU are highlighted especially Rabat ties with leading European powers (notably France and Spain) as implementation of bilateral level and at the level of integration with EU as political body. It is revealed that the acquisition of a special status in cooperation with the EU aims to deepen cooperation not only in the economic, security and energy spheres, but also the human dimension of bilateral relations, which affects human rights and cultural and humanitarian level of relations. In particular, the topical agenda for bilateral Moroccan-European relations is migration issues, the problem of Western Sahara, which complicate dialogue somewhat. The leading role in Morocco’s relations with EU Member States is played by dialogue within the Francophonie, as well as interpersonal contacts in the fields of culture, education and science. These contacts are closely maintained between Morocco, France and Spain, and implemented the EU’s values policy mentioned in the Association Agreement. It is revealed that cultural cooperation plays a positive role in the fight against religious extremism and civil society building.

Marruecos y la Política Europea de Vecindad: el establecimiento de una relación privilegiada

The current article analyses the EU–Morocco relationship in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) during its first five years. The aim is to prove that Morocco has settled a privileged relationship with the EU due to its collaboration in the migration and security field.The paper analyses the unilateral European conception of the migration and security policy and its implementation within the bilateral framework of the ENP in the Euro-Moroccan relations.At the same time, the Moroccan strategies to consolidate the privileged relationship by cooperating in some fields and not in others are examined.Keywords: migration, security, Morocco, international relations, European Neighbourhood, Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, MENA.

The Future of Euro-Mediterranean Migration and Partnership. A Perspective from the Southern Mediterranean

In order to explore the future of Euro-Mediterranean migration and partnership, it is necessary to make an incursion into the past and the present. Two observations will serve as a point of departure: the importance of migration in Euro-Mediterranean relations; the failure of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) and the handling of the migration issue. Migration is an important component of relations between Europe and the South of the Mediterranean. More than ten million immigrants from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean live in Europe. They transfer about 15 to 20 billion Euros annually to their countries of origin, far more than foreign direct investment and public development aid2. And yet the EMP, itself in breakdown, neglects or even ignores this fact. The EMP has been out of action for a long time. Migrations around and across the Mediterranean are currently in crisis. The purpose of this Communication is to consider their future, on the basis of the dual failure of the EMP and the treatment of the migration issue. Thus, we will deal with the question in three parts: the first will focus on the failure of the EMP, the second will deal with the limits of handling the migration issue and migration policies, and the third will focus on the prospects for Euro-Mediterranean migration and partnership.

Effects of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership on Tunisian FDI Inflows

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the effect of regional integration agreements (RIA) on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to developing countries, particularly on the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement signed by the Tunisian government in 1995. The econometric study is based on an extended gravity model treated with the Heckman technique to account for censorship of the explained variable. The main findings are that traditional economic determinants are still the main motivation for foreign investors to invest in Tunisia and that the regional integration process had no effect on this choice.

Value Chain Dynamics of Agri-Food Exports from Southern Mediterranean to the European Union: End-Market Perspective

This contribution explores the buyer side of the value chains of the main agricultural products exported from the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) to the EU, taking Spain as an explorative case study in the broader European context. It draws on the Global Value Chain (GVC) approach to provide new survey-based evidence for better profiling the opportunities and constraints for EU trade for orange, strawberry, tomato and olive oil imported from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. The approach used complements inquiries using quantitative trade models usually based on aggregate sectoral level. Results show differences depending on the product and the country studied. There are in all cases multiple challenges to be solved at the origin of the value chain including better chain organization, further transparency and security, improvement in infrastructure and logistics, keeping transaction costs manageable at the same time. Consumer preferences in buyer markets when sourcing must be taken on the first place. The findings can have relevant policy implications in terms of prospective Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Agreements on agriculture and food.

European Neighborhood Policy in the Middle East: The Test of Reality

When it was inaugurated in 1995, the Euro–Mediterranean Partnership presented a vision of political cooperation, economic development, and cultural understanding between Europe, Arab countries, and...

The Origin of Intercultural Dialogue Practice in European Union External Action

This paper analyses the origin of the practice of ‘intercultural dialogue’ as a tool for European Union external action towards the Mediterranean. ICD is currently a relevant instrument in EU external relations. However, when it was first launched in 1995, in the policy initiative known as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership or the Barcelona Process, ICD was granted little effort by the partners involved. Many accounts from that period agree that this tool initially took a back seat if compared to other political-economic priorities in the EU agenda in this initiative. The paper aims to investigate the reasons for the initial neglect of this tool, which was considered by many to be a relevant innovation when it was launched, but that has actually become a relevant resource for EU external action only recently. Through analysis of EU policy documents of the period, the paper demonstrates that the EU had envisaged strategic use of ICD before 1995, in particular, in the hope of tackling key issues, such as mounting xenophobia in Europe and escalating Islamic fundamentalism in the Maghreb. It thus identifies a dual explanation for the limited and ineffective scope attributed to ICD in the first years of the Barcelona Process. On the one hand, in 1995 a number of Mediterranean partner countries were reluctant to lend much credit to the intercultural aspects of regional cooperation, and, on the other, the EU at that time had a growing but still restrained perception of urgency for the emerging issues that ICD was designed to address.

Promoting tourism education in MENA countries: geopolitical implications.

Tourism development across the Middle East and North Africa is mostly based on low cost and mass beach leisure. This kind of tourism development generated, already in 1980s, a rapid conversion of the whole of the Mediterranean coast into a pleasure “periphery of Europe”. Despite this trend, a different scenario emerged already in the 1990s with the increasing of interests in the development of territorial resources and cultural heritage sites for tourism. This new development has been relevant in the process of Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, particularly for the social and cultural basket that includes the higher education policy of the European Union. But the current European malaise and the developments in the post-Arab Spring countries could transform Euro-Mediterranean relations. In order to open new windows of opportunity, a reshaping of the Erasmus Mundus program can be crucial.

Foreword: Euro-Mediterranean partnership and EUNAM.

EUNAM (EU and North African Migrants: Health and Health Systems) was funded under the European Union’s 7th Framework Program for four years with the starting date on April 2011 and a total budget of close to €2 million. The project was summarized: ‘The coordinates of human health are complex even in a single population, but they are even more complex in migrants whose life situation is always influenced by the host country and the country of origin. Some migrants may experience several host countries and some return to the country of origin. Thus, it is important to survey well-being, health status, disease panorama and use of health services of immigrants compared to the native population; such analyses would be incomplete without casting a view on the same indicators and parameters in the country of origin’. The partners were a team of experts covering health aspects of the full cycle of migration, viewing the health situation …

The European Union's Mediterranean Policy in the Context of the "Arab Spring"

The article discusses the policy of the European Union aimed at the export of its democratic values, acquis communautaire and governance models to the neighbour countries in the Southern Mediterranean. The process of Europeanization reflects a particular case of global megatrend -democratization which in its turn positioned as democracy promotion through soft power instruments. From the EU point of view the goal of the Barcelona process launched in 1995 was to construct Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and common identity in order to promote democratic transitions in Southern Mediterranean. While the EU Foreign Policy in the Mediterranean region was historically conditioned by the security interests of the European Union, it suffered from securitization/democratization dilemma. The article analyses the process of external Europeanization in the Southern Mediterranean as a regional dimension of global democratization process in the context of Union for the Mediterranean development before and after the Arab Spring and new approach in the framework of the ENP Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean. The article proposes that the lack of political strategic vision in the EU toward the Arab democratic transition during 2011-2013 narrows its role as a transformative democratic power, hinders Europeanization/ democratization process in the macro-region of North Africa and Middle East and presents the EU with a new dilemma - to continue its traditional democratization policy or to shift towards a more pragmatic approach to cooperating with new Arab regimes.

The causal effect of trade on migration: Evidence from countries of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership

In the attempt to reduce migration pressure, since 1995, the European Union has been planning to establish a free trade area with developing countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The process is still ongoing. Our paper tests whether it is likely to be an effective policy. We estimate a gravitational model of bilateral migrations on bilateral exports from the Mediterranean Third Countries (South) to the European Union (North) over the period 1970–2000, using different specifications. We find, in line with most of the literature, a significantly positive correlation (called “complementarity”) between exports and migrations from the South to the North. Then we go one step further, trying to solve the potential endogeneity problem using average trade tariffs and bilateral exchange rate volatility as instruments for trade. Based on the OLS as well as the 2SLS results, liberalizing trade in the area of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership does not seem to be an effective policy to mitigate the migration flows, at least in the short run.

A structural change analysis of EU–Moroccan trade liberalisation and economic development between 1995 and 2010

In November 1995, the European Community launched the Barcelona Process, a comprehensive and multifaceted initiative aimed at strengthening political, economic, and social relations between the Community and neighbouring Southern Mediterranean States (MS). One of the initiatives introduced under the umbrella of this Process is the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Central to this Partnership is the creation of free trade agreements between the Community (and later the European Union) and each MS, and similar agreements between the MS themselves over the long term, in order to foster prosperity and engender socioeconomic development in the MS. This paper looks at one MS, Morocco, and refers to structural change theory in order to present a case that trade liberalisation is not the most appropriate strategy to help Morocco develop and attain better living standards. Specifically, trade liberalisation would inhibit Morocco's ability to diversify production and industrialise, which is a prerequisite to a successful developmental transition. The paper makes use of an international trade model to provide a theoretical explanation as to why liberalisation would encourage Morocco to specialise in producing and exporting agricultural products and light manufactures, both of which are unlikely to reap a substantial added economic value. This would prevent the Kingdom from attaining higher income levels and enhancing the living standards of its people.

Has the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Affected Mediterranean Business Cycles?

Summary We date turning points of the reference cycle for 19 Mediterranean countries and analyze their structure and interdependencies. Fluctuations are volatile and not highly correlated across countries; recessions are deep but asynchronous, the distribution of output losses in recessions spread out. Heterogeneities across countries and regions are substantial. Cyclical fluctuations are poorly related to trade and financial linkages. Mediterranean cycles are time varying but their evolution is not linked with the Euro-Mediterranean partnership process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Political Economy of the Euro - Jordanian Economic Partnership : 1995 - 2005

The European Union | Partnership | Free Trade Area | Stability | Economic Integration | Euro-Mediterranean Partnership | World Trade Organization | Dependency | Regional Stability | Political Stability | الاتحاد الأوروبي | الشراكة الأورومتوسطية | منظمة التجارة الدولية | الاعتمادية | منطقة تجارة حرة | الاستقرار الإقليمي | الاندماج الاقتصادي | اقتصاد السوق | الاستقرار السياسي

Location of Services in Mediterranean Countries and NMS

Based on New Economic Geography theory, this paper aims at highlighting location of services industries in Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC) at comparing it with the location of these services in the EU15 and NMS and at assessing whether or not agglomeration economies were its cause. Therefore, we rely on Gini coefficient to measure the degree of concentration and analyse the actual and potential effect of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Services appear more evenly distributed inside trade areas (EU15, NMS and MPC) than within the Euro-Mediterranean zone: convergence is much slower there. Concentration is time-decreasing when the EU is included. Financial intermediation and business services are the most agglomerated activities. Location of services diverges between the EU and NEPC (Neighbourhood European Policy Countries). Labour-intensive business services predominate within the NEPC, whereas high value-added services are still poorly implemented there. The MPC have not yet begun to catch up with the EU15 or with the NMS. Insofar as key enabling services develop by waves, some southern Mediterranean countries may lag behind others. The EC should carefully seek to avoid such increases in inequalities within the MPC.

Regional Instability and the Modernization Theory within the Euro-Jordanian Partnership Context

This study has examined the relations of the Euro-Arab cooperation and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in particular since its inception in 1995. As far as Jordan is concerned, the paper concludes that the key shortcomings and limitations of the EU’s foreign policy towards its southern Mediterranean flank was and remains to reside mainly in the lack of its consistent and balanced cooperation policy especially as far as political dimension of the cooperation is concerned. The study perceives that regional instability as such appears a major determinant factor of Jordan’s economic development and growth. In fact, such external factors seem, to high extent, to influence most of the main components embedded within the nature of the Association Agreement (i.e. accumulation of origins). For example, foreign direct investment and regional economic integration which are conceived as the engine for economic development are becoming profoundly challenged by the continued deteriorated regional instability. Hence, based on the empirical analysis and findings, the study as a result deduced that principles which capitalized on economic development as a prerequisite to political development – with special reference to Modernization theory- fails to explain and to interpret the ultimate objectives of the EU cooperation policy towards Jordan culminated mainly with the Euro-Jordanian Partnership.

Pressing the Reset Button in Euro-Mediterranean Security Relations?

Almost two decades after the Barcelona Declaration, the European Union (EU) is still struggling to engage positively with its southern neighbours. Security has been the key concern in this relationship, with the EU putting forward a short-term agenda, often inconsistent with the policies, institutions and long-term goals of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. This article argues that the so-called Arab Spring has induced a soul-searching process within the European institutions that has opened the possibility for Brussels to reinvent its relations with the Middle East and North Africa countries, particularly in the field of security.

Effects of the Global Crisis on the Egyptian Textiles and Clothing Sector: A Blessing in Disguise?

The textile and clothing (TC) sector has not escaped the slowdown in Egypt in response to the crisis. But it has been in decline since 2001 in response to a changing global environment. Exports, which have been surviving on account of the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) and Euro-Mediterranean Partnership agreements, have been hit hard by the crisis. Domestic sales are in decline as a result of liberalization, and non-QIZ exporter—unprotected by the agreement—have been turning to the domestic market in competition with non-exporters. If domestic sales continue to decline, without being offset by growth in exports, the industry will continue to decline. To deal with the crisis, short-run mitigation policies can be considered as ensuring banks credit, and paying social insurance for workers in distressed firms. But the sector is suffering from inherent structural problems resulting in high costs. In other words, the crisis has exacerbated the shrinkage of an already struggling industry, so a longer run strategy is needed beyond the crisis response, comprising moving up the clothing industry value chain, conditional export incentives, skills upgrading and undergoing comprehensive institutional reform.

Europe and the Middle East: From Imperialism to Liberal Peace?

Europe’s relation with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is discussed in the context of normative (International Society) and materialist approaches (World System’s Theory). First, European imperialism’s export of a flawed Westphalian state system is summarized. How Europe is “caught” between MENA and the US and co-opted into a division of labour toward the region is then surveyed. The gap between the normative rhetoric and actual inequitable outcomes and structures constructed under the Euro-Mediterranean partnership is examined, looking at the three “baskets” of economic developmental, political reform and cultural convergence. Four “hard cases,” EU policies toward Palestine, Iran, Syria and Turkey, illustrate the ambiguities of the EU’s approach to MENA. MENA public opinion’s ambivalence toward Europe reflects these realities. The conclusion is that the EU’sMENA policy is caught between the rhetoric of post-colonialism and practices of neo-colonialism.