Critical Perspectives on Euro-Mediterranean Relations after the “Arab Spring”

Year 2018, Akdeniz Özel Sayısı, 0 - 0, 02.08.2018

Gustavo Gozzi

Abstract

The essay points out that the transformations caused by the uprisings of the “Arab Spring” imply the

necessity of rethinking the history of the Euro-Mediterranean relations – since the Treaty of Rome

(1957) until the Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2015 – and of reconsidering their

future perspectives. In these relations the cultural legacy of colonialism is still very strong through the

influence that the western powers have continued to exercise towards the postcolonial States both in

Africa and the southern shore of Mediterranean. In particular the study outlines the colonial concerns

that played central role in the establishment of the EEC in 1957 through the association agreements

with the postcolonial States in the frame of the project called “Eurafrica”.

The overcoming of the colonial heritage ought to radically change the European protectionist policies

and the conditionality clause towards the countries of the southern shore of Mediterranean in order

to realise a condition of interdependence and a real partnership of equals in the common space of

Mediterranean. In this perspective, a different migration policy which considers the migrant as a

transnational actor able to contribute to the development of both his country of origin and of the

receiving one is also necessary.

Keywords

Euro-mediterranean, Arab Spring, Migration, Colonialism, Eurafrica, Mediterranean Partnership

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