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

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

October 18, 2024

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 ...