Euro‑Mediterranean Relations, 1957–2011

The chapter traces EC/EU policies towards the Mediterranean, on the basis of studies of the documentary sources from EU institutions and member states archives. It discusses the changing concept of "Mediterranean" in European politics, showing how the understanding of the geometry and characteristics of the region among European institutions and national governments changed from the late colonial period to the post-bipolar era. It argues that EC/EU reasoning and policies were shaped by two major constraints: the glass ceiling of US prominence and EU internal division following different alignments with US positioning; and the diversity and fragmentation of the region itself, which led the EC/EU to navigate, to and from, between bilateral relations and regional approaches. A third powerful factor was the political/institutional balance in the EC/EU itself and the (limited) instruments and structures designed for its foreign policy. It traces the major developments of EC/EU policies and highlights the rationales that have ordered them - development, security, rule of law and human rights – against the backdrop of a legacy of colonial relations and Europe’s difficult balancing act in the Arab-Israeli conflict.