The EU and Constitutionalism in Egypt: EU Foreign and Security Policy Challenges with a Special Focus on the Changing Political Setting in the MENA-region

Abstract:

The academic works on transition processes following the Arab revolts in the Middle East since the beginning of 2011 have so far mostly focused on the extraordinary character of the events which took place in Tunis, Cairo, Benghazi, etc. - attempting to explain the reasons for the in many ways surprising development in the region. This article analyses how strategic relations between the EU and Egypt are being challenged by constitutional changes in Egypt following the political development since early 2011. Initially the article describes European-Egyptian relations prior to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak by briefly going back to early contacts between the EEC and President Gamal Abdel Nasser and how more elaborate agreements developed up to recent times. Taking this historical point of departure the article characterizes the role of the EU in connection with the development since the start of the unrest in Egypt followed by an analysis of the European-Egyptian relationship over the last two years divided in three parts: Egypt and the ENP-UfM complex, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian political transformation process seen in a European perspective and finally the migration issue in the context of Egyptian-European relations. The article argues that the EU policies, which earlier have been dominated by a pragmatic approach towards the Mubarak regime, now have to be rethought considering an Egyptian polity, where the contours of a new constitutionalism are developing.