A New Beginning? Does the Union for the Mediterranean Herald a New Functionalist Approach to Co-operation in the Region?

The UfM is building on an already extensive policy acquis to support regionalism and regionalization. Regionalism is understood here as the elaboration of formal trade and economic integration agreements between governments; whereas regionalization refers to the development of relations beyond the governmental level (trade, FDI, joint ventures between businesses; and links between other elements of society).

These interconnected processes play a major role in the EU's vision for the region. The EMP envisages bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements while the ENP encourages further regulatory harmonization. There has also been strong proactive support for regionalization with aid and co-operation policies to foster co-operation between businesses, technocrats, social organizations and cultural and educational institutions. Apart from developing common institutions, the UfM is less directly focused on economic regionalism, and more on a form of regionalization via support for joint projects in core sectors. There appears to be a kind of functionalist ethos of flexible, bottom-up project formation.

This poses important questions. Does the UfM signal a break with the essentially neo-liberal thrust of EU policy and a move to a more functionalist and interventionist approach to supporting development and co-operation? What is the potential for this to foster regionalization and development in the area? From the information available, there is little reason to believe that the UfM will be more successful than previous efforts at encouraging regionalization.

In terms of our understanding of it, we must bear in mind that the UfM does not replace the EU's core 'trade and integration' policy. Therefore it is more of an addition to EU policy than a change of direction.