“Wider Europe’, the Mediterranean, Israel, and the Middle East

The paper investigates the apparent contradictions between the EU's 'wider Europe' scheme and its 'traditional' policy towards the Mediterranean and Middle East. In particular, it will discuss the potential impact of 'Wider Europe' on EU-Mediterranean relations by paying attention to EU-Israeli relations and the EU's approach towards the Middle East conflict. In spite of various shortcomings in practice, the EU's Mediterranean policy reflected a relatively coherent line of (European) security thinking, which was motivated by ‘rational’ security interests. 'Wider Europe', on the other hand, derives from identity-driven dynamics in view of EU enlargement. It resulted in wide-ranging proposals concerning the future of EU-Mediterranean relations in general and EU-Israeli relations in particular, which may challenge the EU's approach towards the Mediterranean and Middle East maintained hitherto. The paper permits to highlight three aspects of EU security thinking, identity dynamics, and foreign policy-in-the making: First, change within the EU’s foreign policy can be explained in terms of competing logics, while the logic of ‘identity dynamics’ currently seems to override previous approaches. Second, politics of inclusion/exclusion do not follow clear-cut lines. Rather, in line with the findings of social psychology, there is a third category, which could be termed 'simultaneously other and like'. ‘Wider Europe’ aims the creation of such a category, and Israel particularly qualifies for it. Third, 'wider Europe' accommodates and translates the EU's needs to redefine itself and its borders in view of enlargement. Thus, it is therefore a potentially powerful concept that is most likely to have a strong impact on the EU's foreign policy thinking in the medium and long term.