The South Mediterranean region has considerable endowments in natural gas, oil, iron ore, phosphates, steel, wood extracts, zinc and fisheries, as well as for Mediterranean agriculture products. Daniel FIOTT would like to see this potential translated into something he would call ‘resource-full revolutions’. Specific initiatives would include a Euro-Med Energy Community, bearing in mind the experience of the EU in extending its energy policies into south-east Europe, which places an important emphasis on harmonization of the regulatory environment. He refers also to the Mediterranean Solar Plan of the Union for the Mediterranean, and the intentions of the EU to conclude new trade liberalization agreements for fisheries and agriculture. At the G20 level there were attempts this year to advance commodity policies, such as with the new Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), which FAO is entrusted to develop, but these remain to prove their value.

The upheavals of the Arab Spring in the southern Mediterranean led to domestic and international demands on the governments in the region to implement reforms aimed at enhancing business and investment conditions especially for micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which carry out an overwhelming majority of the region’s economic activity. A comprehensive survey among some 600 high-growth potential MSMEs in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia identified and ranked the key obstacles impeding their high-growth potential. This Policy Brief summarises the main results and policy recommendations that can be drawn from this survey, which has been analysed in depth by Ayadi & De Groen (2014).

The issue of irregular migration from the South Mediterranean has grown in importance since the Arab Spring. In addition, calls from a number of Member States to reconsider the Schengen agreement have triggered a serious institutional debate over one of the basic European rights: free movement. These debates partly coincided with the institutional and policy changes brought by the enforcement of the Lisbon Treaty, which has modified the EU’s external action.

Europe’s foreign policy-makers are confronted with an increasingly complex situation in the Southern Mediterranean and beyond. The EU can play a central role in this laboratory of Arab democracy. It is also crucial to tackle seriously the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Other regional powers, such as Turkey and the Arab League, will want (and need) to have a role in the transition process. Most importantly, the Union and other donors must engage in a dialogue with all local stakeholders.

Events of the last three years have breathed a new air of urgency in the EU regarding not only the management of irregular migration and asylum but also on the issue of maritime arrivals. Since the Arab Spring, the maritime borders are once more in the spotlight, receiving thousands of irregular arrivals annually coupled with an increase in loss of life at sea. The working paper discusses recent events and policies implemented by states in the Southern Mediterranean, aiming to achieve on the one hand an efficient border control and on the other a protection of migrants at sea. The paper argues that there is still a long way to go towards balancing prevention and deterrence with protection; even more so, when the focus is on policies and regulations in place that seek to management a multifaceted phenomenon solely from a security perspective.

The new political realities in the Maghreb and Mashreq countries have required the EU to take a fresh look at the Union’s relationship with its Southern neighbors. In response, the recently reviewed European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) has put cooperation with civil society organizations (CSOs) at the heart of the EU approach to the region. This paper edited by Isabelle Ioannides and Antonio Missiroli analyses what the EU responses have been to the transitions in the Southern Mediterranean, what EU policy and programming tools are available, what challenges and opportunities face democratic transitions (and what these are in the particular context of the MENA) and how local civil society actors from the region assess the developments in their countries.