Germany and Central and Eastern European Countries: Laggards or Veto-Players?

Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have always been loyal members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). Yet they have never shown enthusiasm for it or displayed noteworthy activism within a co-operation framework that is perceived by their foreign policy elite as a necessary concession to southern EU member states in order to secure the latter's support for continuing pro-active EU engagement in eastern Europe. With this in mind, this study provides a comparative analysis of the foreign policy of Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic toward the southern Mediterranean and discusses in particular the different responses of their governing, economic and societal elites to plans to create a Mediterranean Union (UM).