The Union for the Mediterranean

This is the first comprehensive analysis of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), launched in 2008 amid great controversy within the European Union. Affected from the start by negative fallout from the failure of Middle East peace initiatives, its inadequacies have been underlined by the popular movement for regime change in the Arab world.

Leading experts provide here the first integrated analysis of the significance and shortcomings of the UfM. Beginning with critical questioning of the motives and institutional logics informing this venture, the collection proceeds to analyse its key actors, as well as major policy dossiers such as energy and development.

The book explains how and why an initiative aiming to depoliticize Euro-Mediterranean relations in fact proved wide open to political discord, bringing huge disruption to UfM activity. While some aspects are found to have merit, the volume is critical of the way in which EU Mediterranean policy became driven by a narrow range of national interests, lost sight of the political objectives of the preceding Barcelona Process and became overwhelmingly bilateral in approach, at the expense of more ambitious region-building efforts.

It concludes by highlighting the need to reform the EU Mediterranean policy framework in the light of the Arab uprisings of 2011.

This book was published as a special issue of Mediterranean Politics.

Contents:

1. The Union for the Mediterranean, or the Changing Context of Euro-Mediterranean Relations Federica Bicchi
2. The UfM’s Institutional Structure: Making Inroads towards ‘Co-Ownership’? Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués
3. France and the Union for the Mediterranean: Individualism versus Co-operation Mireia Delgado
4. Adapting to French ‘Leadership’? Spain’s Role in the Union for the Mediterranean Richard Gillespie
5. Germany and Central and Eastern European Countries: Laggards or Veto-Players? Tobias Schumacher
6. The UfM and the Middle East ‘Peace Process’: An Unhappy Symbiosis Rosemary Hollis
7. Plus ça Change. . .? Israel, the EU and the Union for the Mediterranean Raffaella A. Del Sarto
8. The Ties that do not Bind: The Union for the Mediterranean and the Future of Euro-Arab Relations Oliver Schlumberger
9. A New Beginning? Does the Union for the Mediterranean Herald a New Functionalist Approach to Co-operation in the Region? Patrick Holden
10. The UfM and Development Prospects in the Mediterranean: Making a Real Difference? Diana Hunt
11. Third Time Lucky? Euro-Mediterranean Energy Co-operation under the Union for the Mediterranean Hakim Darbouche
12. The UfM Found Wanting: European Responses to the Challenge of Regime Change in the Mediterranean Richard Gillespie