The recommendations presented in this paper are based on deliberations with experts from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria and thus present a “Maghreb perspective” on the ENP and the Mediterranean policy of the EU.

Maghreb experts argued for a radical change in the European mind-set and political discourse. It should be based on the will of creating a true partnership and acknowledging the common concerns on both sides of the Mediterranean. To mark such a new beginning, the notion of “European Neighbourhood Policy” should be abandoned. On the institutional level, structures of EU-Maghreb and Euro-Mediterranean relations should be simplified. However, experts appreciate and recommend pushing further the trend in the ENP, seen especially since 2011, to better take into account civil society. Moreover, in reviewing its relations with the countries of the Southern Mediterranean the EU should consider if its incentives for reform and cooperation are strong enough and how conditionality could be reframed. The facilitation of mobility would constitute an especially efficient instrument to award cooperation and reform. In view of the deteriorating security situation, the fight against terrorism and the reform of the security sector is another urgent field of cooperation. Finally, instead of focusing on bilateral relations only, the EU should much more actively encourage South-South cooperation and regional integration. In doing so, instead of aiming at the Southern Mediterranean en bloc, the EU should focus on regional sub-structures such as the Maghreb.

In reforming its policy along these lines, the EU must be aware of the ENP’s rather disappointing record sheet during the last decade as well as the geopolitical context that has tremendously changed and further complicated EU policy in the region.

Read the whole article as PDF (above).