The Union for the Mediterranean: a rescue plan for Europe an opportunity or an opportunity for the Maghreb

The Geopolitical Assessment of the Occidental Part of the Med-region

I/ The Geopolitical Assessment of the Occidental Part of the Med-region:

The occidental part of the Mediterranean region includes Western Europe and the Maghreb. These two entities experienced a gloomy recent past in their relations since Italy, France and Spain represent the former colonizers of the Maghreb region. This recent past, established a kind of discord that came to stamp the relations among these two entities. Furthermore, this disparity especially deepened in the aftermath of decolonization when Western Europe got integrated in a solid Community (i.e. the European Community).

A/ The Poles of the Occidental Region of the Mediterranean Sea:2(*)

The occidental part of the Mediterranean region is characterized by a structured northern shore with solid institutions and a strong economy. However, the Mediterranean southern shore is stamped with a lack of integration and a weak economy.

-a- The Northern Shore: Europe

Today, Europe is a well organized continent with structured institutions and a strong economy. The establishment of strong supranational institutions (i.e. EU institutions) brings prosperity and stability to a region that formerly represented an arena for two destructive World Wars. Actually, European institutions target to foster peace, political dialogue, economy and social welfare in the continent, in order to strengthen the European position as an influential pole in the region, as well as in the world. The European Parliament, the European Commission, the Court of Justice and the European Central Bank...are among the Community's mechanisms at the source of prosperity in the European continent. Moreover, the European Union relies on a policy to protect its interests and to ensure its security. This policy is known as The European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), it is based on a policy that enables Europe to enlarge its sphere of influence. Hence, it represents a key strategy that allows Europe to get more influence on the region immediately neighboring the European Union. Thus, the Euro-Mediterranean partnership is an instance that demonstrates the application of this policy.

-b- The Southern Shore: The Maghreb

Geographically speaking, the Maghreb region is situated in North Africa. This entity includes Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. De jure, the region represents a grouping known as «The
Arab Maghreb Union» (AMU). Accordingly, the states of the Maghreb are supposed to be fully integrated, so to face the different problems threatening the shared interests of the regional states. Moreover, the Maghreb region is a part of the» League of Arab States» as well as of «the Africa Union». Each of these institutions is in place in order to respond more or less to the same objectives. Therefore, to be part of different institutions does not necessarily reflect integrity in the region. Furthermore, no efficiency and no integration stamps Maghreb interstate relations, since each state aspires to different targets and adopts non-consensual points of view which consequently generate repercussions on the local economies in a way to make out of the grouping a weak entity, unable to compete with its well organized neighbors of the northern shore. Hence, the partnership with the northern neighbors became an inevitable alternative for the Maghreb states since it represents a considerable solution to overcome a gap which does not cease to get wider. Thus, «The Union for the Mediterranean» (UfM) represents an ultimate opportunity that the Maghreb states should not neglect.

* 2

Chadly Ayari: « Enjeux méditerranéen : pour une construction Euro-Arabe ». Alif-les editions de la Mediterranée, 1992.