The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and Development Assistance: Past Trends and Future Scenarios

Abstract

The 2011 uprisings in the southern and eastern Mediterranean have put the region at the forefront of current policy developments, calling into question the future of their domestic political systems and the future of the EU partnership with its Southern Neighbourhood. Against this backdrop, this paper analyses and assesses the EU’s development assistance to the region since 1995 and provides insights into the future of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The first section reviews the policy and financing frameworks governing Euro-Mediterranean relations; section two reviews the determinants of official development assistance (ODA), section three analyses the impact of the EU’s ODA to the southern and eastern Mediterranean against the objectives set in the different policy frameworks governing Euro-Mediterranean relations; section four assesses the EU’s response to the changes in the region and offers four views on the future of Euro-Mediterranean relations.

Keywords: Euro-Mediterranean, EU partnership, Southern Neighbourhood, official development assistance, ODA, Euro-Mediterranean relations