The Euro-Mediterranean partnership and regional integration in the Mediterranean

Abstract

The Euro-Mediterranean Conference held in Barcelona in November 1995 established a new era of close relationship between the European Union and its southern Mediterranean neighbours with the launch of the European-Mediterranean Partnership policy between 15 European and 12 non-EU member Mediterranean countries. The partnership was motivated by European concerns over the instability of North Africa, from the one side, and Mediterranean worries about the EU's recent re-orientation to the central-east of European at the detriment of the south, from the other side. European fears came about security relates issues: the rise of fanatic lslamic regimes in the region and the increase of economic migrants from the south to the European Mediterranean countries.