Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(1):31-48 | DOI: 10.17221/153/2013-AGRICECON

Euro-Mediterranean relations and their heading. On the way to a differentiated multilateralism?Original Paper

Eva CIHELKOVÁ
Faculty of International Relations, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic

The European Union pays a primary attention to the development of neighbouring relations; it means the relations with countries in the immediate vicinity of its external borders. This is done for the sake of prosperity, stability and the spread of democratic values in the world. In this sense, a kind of the privileged region have always created the states of the Southern and Eastern or eventually Northern Mediterranean with which the European Economic Community began to develop cooperation immediately after its formation. Then since the mid-1990s, the EU set out a goal to create a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area and thus to move closer to the interlacing of the two entities in the form of integration. The outline of the process of development of Euro-Mediterranean relationships (including the changes of bilateral approaches and the conditioning factors) is the objective of this article. It is divided into three sections, which cover different stages of the development of these relationships over time and escalate in terms of two-way approaches to a new quality of cooperation (including the three stated research questions). The result of these relationships could become a Euro-Mediterranean Alliance that is outlined as a differentiated form of multilateralism in the conclusions of the paper.

Keywords: good governance, European Neighbourhood Policy, European Union, Euro-Mediterranean Alliance, Mediterranean, partnership, regionalism, strategic partnership

Published: January 31, 2014  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
CIHELKOVÁ E. Euro-Mediterranean relations and their heading. On the way to a differentiated multilateralism? Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2014;60(1):31-48. doi: 10.17221/153/2013-AGRICECON.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Ayadi R., Gadi S. (2013): The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and Development Assistance: Past Trends and Future Scenarios. MEDPRO Technical Report No. 32/ March 2013.
    2. Ayadi R., Sessa C. (2011): What scenarios for the EuroMediterranean in 2030 in the wake of the Arab spring? MEDPRO Policy Paper No. 2/October 2011 (Updated 25 February 2013).
    3. Bureš J. (2000): Euro-středomořské partnerství pět let po barcelonské konferenci. (Euro-Mediterranean Partnership five years after Barcelona Conference.) Mezinárodní politika, No. 11: 4-6.
    4. Cihelková E. (2003): Vnější ekonomické vztahy Evropské unie. (External Economic Relations of the European Union.) C.H. Beck, Praha; ISBN 80-7179-804-5.
    5. CEC (1972): Relations between the Community and the countries of the Mediterranean basin. Communication from the Commission to the Council. SEC (72) 3111 final, 27 September 1972.
    6. CEC (1994): Strengthening the Mediterranean policy of the European Union: establishing a Euro-Mediterranean partnership. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. COM (94) 427 final, 19 October 1994.
    7. CEC (2003): Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament "Wider Europe - Neighbourhood: A New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and Southern Neighbours". Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, COM (2003) 104 final, 11. 3. 2003.
    8. CEC (2004): Communication from the Commission "European Neighbourhood Policy". Strategy Paper. Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, COM (2004) 373 final, 12 May 2004.
    9. CEC (2008): Commission of the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean". Brussels, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, COM (2008) 319 (final), 20 May 2008.
    10. EC (1989): Commission proposes renewed Mediterranean policy. Available at Press release P/89/71, 17 November 1989. Available at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=P/89/71&format=HTML&aged=1〈uage=EN&guiLanguage=en
    11. EC (1991): Communication from the Commission to the Council on the implementation of trade arrangements under the new Mediterranean policy. Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) amending the arrangements for the import into the Community of certain agricultural products originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Yugoslavia. COM (91) 179 final, 22 May 1991.
    12. EC (1996): Council Regulation No. 1488/96 of 23 July 1996 on Financial and Technical Measures to Accompany (MEDA) the Reform of Economic and Social Structures in the Framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Official Journal L 189 of 30.07.1996.
    13. EC (2005): Euromed Ministerial in Luxembourg: Barcelona Partnership's second decade. Press releases database, IP/05/630, Brussels, 30 May 2005.
    14. EC (2010): Taking stock of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): 2009 progress report for Tunisia, SEC (2010) 514;... for Egypt, SEC (2010) 517;... for Morocco, SEC (2010) 521.
    15. EC (2011a): European Commission, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Joint Communication to the European Council, the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean. Brussels, COM (2011) 200 final, 8 March 2011.
    16. EC (2011b): European Commission, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. "A New Response to a Changing Neighbourhood". Brussels, COM (2011) 303, 25 May 2011.
    17. EC (2011c): Action Fiche for the southern Neighbourhood region programme Support for partnership, reforms and inclusive growth (SPRING). Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/documents/aap/2013/af_aap_2013_enpi-s_p3.pdf
    18. EEC (1993): Římské smlouvy. Evropská integrace v dokumentech. (Treaty of Rome. European Integration in the Documents.) Ústav mezinárodních vztahů, Praha. ISBN 80-901301-6-X.
    19. EMWIS (2006): MEDA Figures. Available at http://www.emwis.org/overview/fol101997/fol221357/doc988673
    20. EP (1972): Report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on External Economic Relations on the consequences of the enlargement of the European Community for its relations with the Mediterranean countries. European Parliament working documents 1972-1973, Document 302/72. Available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/cardoc/2011/2011_05/A0-0302!720010EN.pdf
    21. EU (1995): Barcelona declaration adopted at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference, 27-28/11/95. Available at http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/external_relations / relations_with_third_countries/mediterranean_partner_countries/r15001_en.htm.
    22. EU (2008): Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean. 13 July 2008. Available at http://www.eu2008.fr/webdav/site/PFUE/shared/import/07/0713/_declaration_de_paris/Joint_declaration_of_the_Paris_summit_for_the_Mediterranean-EN.pdf
    23. European Council (2004): Final Report (approved by the European Council in June 2004) on an EU Strategic Partnership with the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Available at http://consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/Partnership%20Mediterranean%20and%20Middle%20East.pdf [accessed 2013-06-12].
    24. Knoops V. (2011): Euro-Mediterranean relations and the Arab Spring. Background Brief No. 6, EU Centre in Singapore, October 2011.
    25. Youngs R. (2006): Europe's Flawed Approach to Arab Democracy. Centre for European Reform, London, October.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content