scholarly journals Evolution of European Union’s policy towards the Mediterranean region

2012 ◽  
pp. 5-10
Author(s):  
Anna Diawol

This paper examines some specific problem in Euro Mediterranean relation. Author decided to concentrate on two main issues: the characteristics of the institutions of the Union for the Mediterranean, indicating similarities and differences in the Euro-Mediterranean programs and the presentation of specific new initiatives. The author will also summarize the main possible positions in the ongoing debates about the need to reform the European Union addressed to the countries of North Africa and the Middle East.

2021 ◽  
pp. 10-35
Author(s):  
Raffaella A. Del Sarto

This chapter presents the conceptual framework of this study. It delves into the meaning and implications of adopting a borderlands approach to the study of the complex relationship between Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe’s ‘southern neighbourhood’. Anchored in the conceptualization of the European Union and its member states as an empire of sorts, this approach highlights the extension of European rules and practices to Europe’s southern periphery and the dislocation of Europe’s borders, showing how interconnected the two regions have become as a result. The usefulness of this conceptual framework is also discussed in the context of various flaws and gaps in the existing literature.


Author(s):  
Toader FLUTUR

The issue of uncontrolled migration has produced an institutional transformation of the European Union, dictated by the need to find solutions to new challenges. The reform of migration and asylum policy had to enter the European public agenda at an accelerated pace and political leaders had to find the common will to create the right legislative framework to respond to the migration crisis. The most important migration route preferred by refugees and economic migrants, is the Mediterranean Sea which in recent years has experienced the most intense human trafficking but also the most deaths in such a short time. As a result of the popular riots in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011, the deteriorating political and social situation in the countries of origin, more and more citizens have left their native places in the hope of ensuring a better life in the European Union. In order to support the structural reforms needed by the two areas and even physical reconstruction if we refer to the Syrian case, the European Union must show active involvement and a coherent plan to curb the fluid sources of migration. Supporting the reconstruction of foundations or strengthening institutions, investment in aid programs to stimulate economies and strong agreements with the governments of the states of the Middle East and North Africa are just some of the measures that the European Union should take swiftly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Marianna Gladysh ◽  
Viktor Viktor

Nowadays the European Union migration policy towards is one of the most important aspects in ensuring internal security of the EU. At the end of the XXth – beginning of the XXI century, Europe faced a new phenomenon – the intensifi cation of migration processes, namely the influx of refugees and migrants-asylum seekers from third countries. Therefore, it led to the creation and development of common migration policy of the European Union. In this regard, it was important to create legislation that could regulate such issues as border security and combating illegal migration, as well as to create a common asylum system. The need to study the legal framework on which the EU policy on migrants and refugees is based, and to study the current state and trends in the migration policy of the member-states of the EU has determined the relevance of this study. The importance of this topic is intensified by the European migration crisis of 2015, which is even described as a humanitarian catastrophe caused by a massive influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East. It showed the main problems in the sphere of migration policy and policy towards refugees: imperfection of the system of delimitation of the EU competencies; a large number of countries with confl icting interests in various spheres; fragmentation of programs in force at the national level. To address the migration crisis, the EU used a multifaceted strategy: improving and creating new migration management institutions, expanding crossregional dialogue with the countries of the Mediterranean region, Africa and the Middle East; continued to reformat the Mediterranean region (region-building). Potential approaches range from an internal search for strategies in which each member state seeks to defend its own interests (sometimes even against European integration processes) to a more farsighted approach in which member states work together to address a wide range of migration issues.


Author(s):  
Sindre Bangstad

This chapter discusses the life and work of Bat Ye’or (Gisèle Littman), who is widely seen as the doyenne of “Eurabia”-literature. This comes in different varieties and formulations, but in Bat Ye’or’s rendering refers to an ongoing secretive conspiracy which involves both the European Union and Muslim-majority countries in North Africa and the Middle East, aimed at establishing Muslim control over a future Europe or “Eurabia.” Though Bat Ye’or did not coin the term “Eurabia,” she can be credited with having popularized the concept through quasi-academic titles such as Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis and Europe, Globalization and the Coming Universal Caliphate. Through its dissemination on various “counter-jihadist” websites and in the work of the Norwegian counter-jihadist blogger Fjordman, her work inspired the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. She also has long-standing relations with Serbian ultranationalists, the Israeli Far Right, and various radical Right activists in Western Europe and the US.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-298
Author(s):  
Stephan F.H. Ollick

The Mediterranean Sea has long been an important and perilous route for international migrants from the coast of North Africa to the European Union (EU). Manygrants and refugees travelling on overcrowded and unseaworthy dinghies do not survive the crossing. Rising numbers of fatalities put pressure on the EU to address the Mediterranean tragedy with renewed urgency. Frontex Operation Triton (2014–) and the naval mission eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA (2015–) were launched to survey and influence migratory flows. Although thousands of migrants and refugees have thus been delivered from distress at sea, casualty rates remain staggeringly high. Some commentators and organizations have dismissed Frontex and eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA as vehicles of an isolationist political agenda. This overlooks the narrow legal, political and practical confines within which these initiatives operate. Frontex and eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA seek to attain a level of control necessary for the delayed implementation of more ambitious and forward-looking schemes. The unsophisticated, temporary nature of the regime complex currently governing the EU’s activities in the Mediterranean Sea manifests in ambiguous language, in frequent and disparate amendments, and in the brevity of the mandates thus dispensed.


Author(s):  
József Kis-Benedek

Povzetek: Leta 2016 in predvsem 2017 so se na kriznih območjih Bližnjega vzhoda in Severne Afrike pojavile nekatere pozitivne spremembe. Spodbuden dogodek je bila uspešna akcija iraških in pešmerskih sil, ki jih podpira zahodna koalicija, proti tako imenovani Islamski državi, katere rezultat je bila izguba ozemlja ekstremističnih organizacij. Avtor analizira vidike kriznih območij, in sicer Iraka, Sirije in Libije, ki se nanašajo na posledice nerešenega vprašanja migrantov. Poleg kriznih območij predstavlja tudi situacijo tujih borcev in varnostna tveganja, ki jih povzroča njihova vrnitev v domovino. Navaja ukrepe, ki so jih sprejele EU in njene države članice, da bi preprečile in obvladale grožnjo, ki jo predstavlja vračanje tujih borcev. Ključne besede: Bližnji vzhod, Evropska unija, migracije, Sirija, Libija, tuji borci. Abstract: In 2016, but mainly in 2017 some positive changes happened in the crisis areas of the Middle East and North Africa. Encouraging event was the successful actions of Iraqi and Peshmerga forces supported by the western coalition against the so called Islamic State, the result is the loss of territory of the extremist organizations. The author analyzes the perspectives of the crisis areas, namely Iraq, Syria and Libya, referring to the effects of the unresolved migrant issue. Besides the two crisis zones, he also presents the situation of foreign fighters and the security risks posed by their return. He specifies the measures taken by the EU and its member states to avert and handle the threat represented by returning foreign fighters. Key words: Middle-East, European Union, migration, Syria, Libya, foreign fighters.


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