Explaining EU Aid Allocation in the Mediterranean: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

This article examines the determinants of aid allocation by the European Union to its southern neighbours within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Starting from the observation that in the two periods 2002–06 and 2007–10 the European Commission committed a considerably larger amount of aid per capita to Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia than to Algeria, Egypt and Syria, four models regarding aid allocation are identified from the literature and EU documents: donor interest, recipient need, good governance and economic reforms. Subsequently, the hypotheses of these models are tested using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.

The article concludes that the economic reforms model proves to have the most explanatory value. The EU's aid policy in the Mediterranean has a long-term objective – the promotion of market-based reforms. In addition, a high score for control of corruption is identified as a sufficient condition for receiving a large amount of funding.