News
Mediterranean Programme - [04/21/2008]
The Maghreb region and Euro-Mediterranean relations
The International Studies Association of Tunis and EuroMeSCo jointly organised the first preparatory meeting for the annual EuroMeSCo conference. These meetings, which take the format of academic seminars, are aimed at sketching out the main areas for discussion at the annual conference, an event that is indispensable for anyone interested in Euro-Mediterranean relations.
The main area of discussion in Tunis was the impact that the evolution of Euro-Mediterranean relations is having on the Maghreb region. Of all the issues that were discussed at the meeting, the one that generated the most debate was the Union for the Mediterranean, though other topics of interest included the impact of regional conflicts and the dynamics of securitisation in the bilateral policies of Member States, as well as those of the EU.
Eduard Soler, Coordinator of the Mediterranean Programme, took part in the panel on the future of Euro-Mediterranean relations, which had as its subtitle “the renationalisation of foreign policies, securitisation and regional integration". Soler described the initial French proposal as a clear example of renationalisation, or (and it is effectively the same thing) of the de-Europeisation of France's Mediterranean policy. Soler highlighted Germany's role as the factor that succeeded in reversing the trend, and stressed that it was dangerous to implement foreign policy using the approach that "the Mediterranean is only the responsibility of the Mediterraneans". In Soler's opinion, this attitude could produce serious consequences for the coherence of Europe's foreign policy and might endanger the required funding of the EU's Mediterranean policy if the countries of Central, North and Eastern Europe see themselves as being excluded from its definition.
One conclusion from the debates in Tunis was that Euro-Mediterranean and intra-Maghreb dynamics are closely interlinked, and that policies devised along national lines ─ whether they come from the north or the south of the Mediterranean basin ─ will not succeed in achieving the best results.