Back

The new Euro Mediterranean context: What direction for the Morocco-European Union partnership?

October 18, 2024
Related topics: 
International Relations
International Cooperation
Europe
Maghreb

Rachid El Houdaigui's article, "The New Euro-Mediterranean Context: What Direction for the Morocco-European Union Partnership?" analyzes three crucial tendencies contributing to transforming the Euro-Mediterranean paradigm.

The article discusses the significant impacts of global geopolitical and geo-economic factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and increasing tensions between the US and China on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)

Professor El Houdaigui argues that the EU's neo-protectionist trade policies and regulatory measures present challenges and opportunities for Morocco. He emphasizes the need for future negotiations to consider new European regulations and Morocco's evolving economic priorities. Additionally, judicial rulings regarding agricultural and fishing agreements linked to the Sahara provinces have become critical issues.

Given the increasingly complex security landscape, the article stresses the necessity of a new political paradigm in the region, including the ongoing instability in Libya, the Sahel, and broader geopolitical changes involving Russia, China, and Turkey.

Rachid El Houdaigui calls for a modernized Morocco-EU partnership that balances economic interdependence and addresses Morocco’s geo-economic ambitions. This partnership would promote inclusive growth, reduce vulnerabilities, and adapt to new global realities. This analysis is essential in the context of the 2023 EuroMeSCo Euromed Survey, which reflects on the future of the ENP and its relevance for the Southern Mediterranean countries.

Speakers
Mounia Boucetta
Senior Fellow
Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, Mounia Boucetta has over 20 years of experience in public administration, holding numerous managerial and leadership roles, and working particularly on the development of industrial and commercial policies. She was most recently Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Morocco from 2017 to 2019.   A graduate from the prestigious Mohammadia School of Engineers (Morocco), Mounia Boucetta joined the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 1991 where she held numerous positions before her appointment as its Secretary General in 2010. In this context, she contributed to numerous projects including, but not limited to, reorganizational projects, implementation of sectoral strategies, inve ...
Rachid El Houdaigui
Senior Fellow
Rachid El Houdaïgui is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and an Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. He also serves as a professor of International Relations at Abdelmalek Essaadi University's Law Faculty in Tangier. His expertise encompasses international relations, geopolitics, defense and security, focusing on the Mediterranean region, North Africa, and the Arab world. He also serves as a professor at the Royal College of Advanced Military Studies in Kenitra and is a visiting professor at Cergy-Pontoise University (Paris), Cadiz University (Spain), and La Sagesse University (Beirut, Lebanon).   He is the founder of the Moroccan-Spanish review "Peace and International Security" and oversees the Observatory of Mediterranean Studies ...
Senén Florensa
Executive President, IEMed
Senén Florensa is the Executive President of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), Chair of EuroMeSCo General Assembly, and director of the quarterly afkar/ideas and of the IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook. He has been Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna, Spanish Ambassador to Tunisia, Consul General of Spain in Rome, Consul General in Berlin and Diplomatic Counsellor at the Office of the President of the Spanish Government. He holds a degree in Economic Science and in Law from the Universitat of Barcelona. He studied for his doctorate in Economics at the Universtié Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne; as a Fullbright scholarship holder at New York University, Ph.D. Program, and at the Universidad Comp ...
Iván Martín
Senior Fellow
Iván Martín is Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Governance, Economic and Social Sciences of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), and Associate Researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration (GRITIM) at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Between 2013 and 2016 he was Part-time Professor at the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) of the European University Institute in Florence, as well as member of the Expert Group on Economic Migration of the European Commission and Key Expert on Labour Migration providing External Technical Expertise on Migration to DG DEVCO of the European Commission (ETEM V Project). Formerly, he has been Senior Research Fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International A ...
Larabi Jaïdi
Senior Fellow
Larabi Jaïdi is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and an Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. His areas of expertise include international economy, economic policies, international economic relations, regional economies, social development, international relations, and Mediterranean studies. He also served on the Special Commission on the New Development Model of Morocco, a consultative body created in November 2019 to formulate the country's new developmental guidelines. Jaïdi is a former Professor at Mohamed V University in Rabat-Agdal and a founding member of both the Centre Marocain de Conjoncture and the Groupement d’Etudes et de Recherches sur la Méditerranée.   Prof. Jaïdi previously served as Advisor to the Prime Minister an ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Download PDF
    L’Inde et le Maghreb
    Authors
    Abdallah Saaf
    August 1, 2018
    Dans cette minutieuse analyse des relations entre les pays du Maghreb et l’Inde, pays/continent, désormais classé au rang de 7ème puissance économique mondiale, appel est fait à plusieurs disciplines. De la politique, aux relations internationales, à l’économie et au commerce, en passant par l’histoire. Le résultat est ce tableau de bord/panorama qui renseigne à la fois sur les atouts dont dispose chacun des partenaires mais, aussi, sur les désaccords qui se font jour entre ces dern ...
  • Download PDF
    2018 Africa Think Tank Summit Report : Deepening Expertise and Enhancing Sustainability: Insights into Contemporary Challenges Facing African Think Tanks
    Authors
    May 31, 2018
    OCP Policy Center and the Think Tank and Civil Societies Program of the University of Pennsylvania, with the support of the Moroccan International Cooperation Agency (AMCI), the Asian Development Bank hosted the 2018 Africa Think Tank Summit under the theme “Deepening Expertise and Enhancing Sustainability: Insight into Contemporary Challenges Facing African Think Tanks.” The summit was held May 9-11th, 2018 at The View Hotel, Rabat, Morocco. The most influential and innovative thi ...
  • Download PDF
    Africa-Europe Partnership in search of meaning Key Findings
    Authors
    Larabi Jaïdi
    Iván Martín
    May 31, 2018
    With the reshaping of relations between the EU and the ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific), and the expected revision of the ACP-EU agreement in 2020, it is essential to re-visit the framework of key partnerships between Europe and Africa and to propose efficient collaborative strategies to enhance relations. This book explores the various areas of cooperation for the renewal of African-European partnerships, notably in fields such as education, the creation of jobs for yo ...
  • Is the south crucial to NATO’s strategic future?
    Authors
    Bouchra Rahmouni
    May 30, 2018
    In a more chaotic and critical Mediterranean security environment that is facing a huge geopolitical change, the NATO alliance has found itself challenged by rival states across the spectrum of conflict. Russia, which represents an instance of this change, has acquired for the first time in its modern history a proper permanent base in the Mediterranean. Also, other geopolitical changes such as proliferation of ballistic missiles among both state and non-state actors around the Medi ...
  • Destination Maghreb : Changing Migration Patterns in North Africa
    Authors
    Haim Malka
    May 8, 2018
    For decades, the North African Maghreb has been both a source of irregular migration to Europe and a gateway for sub-Saharan Africans transiting to Europe. Now the Maghreb is also emerging as a destination for migration. While Europe remains the preferred destination for most African migrants, reaching Europe is becoming increasingly difficult at precisely the time that migration pressures in Africa are mounting. Africa’s massive migration is just getting started—and this presents ...
  • Download PDF
    Chine - Maroc - Afrique Un partenariat agroalimentaire novateur
    Authors
    Fathallah Oualalou
    October 10, 2017
    L’objet de ce travail est de proposer la mise en place d’un partenariat de progrès entre la Chine et le Maroc, centré sur la question agroalimentaire en Afrique. C’est dans ce continent que la demande alimentaire va augmenter d’une façon très sensible au cours du XXIème siècle notamment en raison de sa progression démographique et de l’accélération de son urbanisation. L’Afrique est dans l’obligation de réussir sa révolution agricole pour combattre la faim et la pauvreté, accéder à ...
  • Download PDF
    Development and / or security: Issues concerning the relationship between the European Union, the Maghreb and the Sahel
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    July 7, 2017
    This Policy Brief tackles the link between development and security in the Mediterranean basin, as well as the involvement of countries on both shores in a partnership providing the necessary security for joint socio-economic development. The Sahel countries are also taking part in the analysis and play a role in the success of security strategies in the Maghreb and within the European Union. The paper provides examples of rich countries faced with insecurity, of poor countries with ...
  • Download PDF
    Développement et/ou sécurité : Enjeux de la relation entre l’Union Européenne, le Maghreb et le Sahel
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    July 7, 2017
    Ce Policy Brief traite de l’articulation entre le développement et la sécurité dans le bassin méditerranéen, ainsi que de l’implication des pays des deux rives, nord et sud, dans un partenariat assurant la sécurité nécessaire à un développement socio-économique conjoint. Les pays du Sahel prennent également part à l’analyse et conditionnent le succès des stratégies sécuritaires au Maghreb et au sein de l’Union Européenne. Le papier revient sur des exemples de pays riches mais frappé ...
  • Download PDF
    Relations entre le Maroc et l’Afrique subsaharienne : Quels potentiels pour le commerce et les investissements directs étrangers ?
    Authors
    Rim Berahab
    February 1, 2017
    L’analyse des relations commerciales entre le Maroc et l’Afrique subsaharienne fait ressortir un volume des échanges croissants, reflétant ainsi une dynamisation continue des leurs relations commerciales. Une tendance similaire est observée au niveau des investissements directs étrangers, qui ne cessent de croître au cours des dernières années, traduisant la volonté du Maroc à devenir un acteur majeur dans le développement du continent africain. Ce Policy Brief présente dans un prem ...
  • Download PDF
    The New EU Global Strategy and What It Means for Morocco
    Authors
    Emiliano Alessandri
    September 19, 2016
    This policy brief reviews the recently published EU Global Strategy, highlighting its main strengths and weaknesses as well as innovations, starting with the concept of resilience. It argues that the document has many strengths for being a compromise text written at a time of deep uncertainty about the EU's own future. The brief also comments on the future of EU-Morocco relations in the new framework. It notes that the strategy perhaps missed an opportunity to reaffirm European-Moro ...