The Union for the Mediterranean : a critical review

Abstract

The historical perspective on the setting up of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) validates the initiative of uniting EU Member States and Partners from the Middle East, North Africa and South East Europe, to build free trade, deepen economic cooperation and to consider social and cultural aspects, while mitigating security issues. However, the inability of the UfM to enforce its inter-regional integration agenda is apparent, with the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict, regular outbursts of violence in North Africa and the Middle East, tensions between the southern European states and Turkey and the like (Bicchi and Gillespie, 2014, p. 12). With the above in mind, the aim of this research is to critically analyse the UfM and to assess its capability of effectively delivering on its mandate. In order to do this, the dissertation looks at the developments leading to the creation of the UfM, appraises its institutional novelties, its enlarged membership and the specific characteristics that member countries bring with them and evaluates the influence of ‘outside’ factors, Further, the dissertation gives an institutional overview of the UfM; it looks at and evaluates the newly created structures and novelties introduced by the founders of this multilateral framework – the decision for meetings to be held on a regular basis, every two years at the level of Heads of State/Government, every year at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the introduction of the Co-Presidency, meant to set the governance of the UfM on the basis of an equal footing, as well as the effect of the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Furthermore, the research paper looks into the setting up and the role of the Secretariat of the UfM, which constitutes the technical arm of the UfM framework (Union for the Mediterranean, Final Declaration, Marseille, 2008) and which can be considered to be the human face of the UfM, as it is mandated to develop EU-Mediterranean relations into more concrete and visible expressions, through regional and sub-regional projects, relevant and visible to the citizens of the region, via the notion of variable geometry. Furthermore, the dissertation evaluates the effective membership of the UfM which, by 2008 had reached a larger scope and a wider geographical expansion than ever before; apart from the 27 EU members, the framework included 17 Mediterranean partners, with Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monaco and Montenegro newly admitted at the 2008 Paris summit; Libya retained its observer status. Additionally, the dissertation examines the characteristics of the single partners, which can be characterized through a variegated mixture of different ties with the EU, besides the UfM, ranging from the observer state of Libya - having no contractual ties to the EU - to others like Egypt and Tunisia, that take part in the ENP, to Turkey and Croatia, which were both negotiating their EU accession.