European Union - Mediterranean relations : expectations and experiences with special reference to the period following the second enlargement

Abstract

Relations between the European Union (then Community) and the Mediterranean states span a period of forty years. France and Italy were founding members and signatories of the Rome Treaty (1957) that established the European Communities. Tackling every aspect of such a long period would be absurd and would lead nowhere. Instead, this thesis analyses the historical evolution of the relationship in light of Lucian Holscher's theory that 'an event acquires historical meaning through the tension between contemporary expectations and experiences, and it does so at the very instant when the historical expectation turns into historical experience.' The Mediterranean region is one of the most complex in the world and it faces some very serious problems. The constantly widening economic and technological gap between the countries of its northern and southern shores, the continuous increase in poverty and unemployment in the southern and eastern region that result from demographic explosion and which increase migratory pressure on Europe, the upsurge in movements featuring religious, ethnic and nationalistic violence, are all factors which contribute to an unstable environment.