The new Mediterranean policy of the European community

Abstract

In 1989 the EC announced its so called ''New Mediterranean Policy". Thls article seeks to identify the main challenges which the European Community and the non-Member states of the Mediterranean region face and whether the policy as announced is capable of achieving meaningful results. The Mediterranean is perhaps ranked second in the league of importance for the European Community, after Central and Eastern Europe. However, the dangers that still lurk in the mare nostrum could still have sizeable negative effects on the Community. While attention has been riveted on Central and Eastern Europe the Mediterranean cannot be ignored. This paper will argue that all the initiatives taken in the Mediterranean by the Community from the launching of the so called global approach in around 1972, have regularly been overtaken by events and that the same has happened in the case of the so called New Mediterranean Policy.