Abstract
This chapter shows that despite the Western Sahara being the principal impediment to the formation of a unified Maghrebi block, it has not so far prevented the European Union (EU) from cutting economic deals with individual Maghrebi countries. The exclusion of the Western Sahara conflict from the EU agenda has not eased the development of regional integration in the Maghreb. The multiple regional initiatives launched by Brussels have seen a growing bilateral shift that is at odds with the very idea of regional integration. Despite the obvious failure of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy to foster cooperation among the Maghrebi countries, the EU maintains this logic of action.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agence France Press (AFP). (2012). Tunisia President in drive to revive Maghreb Union. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iq4h43C2SiHs7-CUV_5MhHhGNLOg?docId=CNG.2d2388619fde1f59a6d91682efa15a38.6b1. Accessed Dec 2013.
Arab Maghreb Union. (1989). Treaty Instituting the Arab Maghreb Union. http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/other_treaties/text.jsp?file_id=201318. Accessed 4 Sept 2013.
Baghzouz, A. (2007). Le Maghreb, le Sahara Occidental et les Nouveaux Défis de Sécurité. L’Année du Maghreb 2007: Justice, Politique et Société, 2007, 523–546.
Barcelona Declaration. (1995, 27–28 November). Barcelona declaration adopted at the Euro-Mediterranean conference. http://www.eeas.europa.eu/euromed/docs/bd_en.pdf. Accessed 11 Nov 2013.
Bell, E., & Finaish, M. (1994). The Arab Maghreb Union (IMF working paper no. 94/55, pp. 1–56).
Benabdallah, K. (2009). The position of the European Union on the Western Sahara conflict. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 17(3), 417–435.
Benantar, A. (2013). Complexe de Sécurité Ouest-Maghrébin: Externalisation et Sécurisation de la Migration. L’Annéee du Maghreb, 9, 57–75.
Berremdane, A. (1992). Le Sahara Occidental: Enjeu Maghrébin. Paris: Karthala.
Biad, A. (2013). La Construction du Maghreb au Défi du Partenariat Euro-Méditerranéen de l’Union Européenne, L’Année du Maghreb 2013—Dossier: Le Maghreb avec ou sans l’Europe? (pp. 103–124).
Boulares, H. (2012). Pour Un Cadre Officiel Des Réunions des 5+5. In J. Coustillière (Ed.), Le 5+5 Face aux Défis du Réveil Arabe (pp. 115–119). Paris: L’Harmattan.
Boumghar, L. (2013). The Algerian position on the European neighborhood policy. IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2013. http://www.iemed.org/observatori-en/arees-danalisi/arxius-adjunts/anuari/iemed-2013/Boumghar%20Algeria%20ENP%20EN.pdf. Accessed Jan 2014.
Calleya, S. C. (2003). The Euro-Med partnership and sub regionalism: A case of region building? (Working paper PRI-4). http://ies.berkeley.edu/pubs/workingpapers/PRI-4-Euro-Med_Partnership.pdf. Accessed 31 Aug 2013.
Cavatorta, F., Chari, R., Kritzinger, S. (2006). The European Union and Morocco. Security through authoritarianism? Political science series 110. Vienna: Institute for Advanced Studies https://www.ihs.ac.at/publications/pol/pw_110.pdf.
Central Intelligence Agency. (2012). Country comparison: Miliary expenditures. The World Factbook. Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html?countryname=Morocco&countrycode=mo®ionCode=afr&rank=14#mo. Accessed Mar 2014.
Charbonneau, L. (2014, April 29). U.N. renews Western Sahara Mission, but without rights monitors. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/us-westernsahara-un-idUSBREA3S16P20140429. Accessed June 2014.
Collyer, M. (2008). Emigration, immigration, and transit in the Maghreb: Externalization of EU policy? In Y. H. Zoubir & H. Amirah-Fernandez (Eds.), North Africa: Politics, region, and the limits of transformation (pp. 159–178). London/New York: Routledge.
Commission of the European Union. (2011b). A new response to a changing neighbourhood: A review of European Neighborhood Policy. http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/pdf/com_11_303_en.pdf. Accessed Dec 2013.
Commission of the European Union. (2012). Supporting closer cooperation and regional integration in the Maghreb: Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. http://eeas.europa.eu/mideast/docs/2012_joint_communication_maghreb_en.pdf. Accessed Nov 2013.
Commission of the European Union. (2013b). Fisheries—Morocco. http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/international/agreements/morocco/index_en.htm. Accessed Dec 2013.
Commission of the European Union. (2014d). Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy: Statistical annex. http://eeas.europa.eu/enp/pdf/2014/stats/statistical_annex_2014.pdf. Accessed Jan 2015.
Commission of the European Union. (2015b). European Union, trade in goods with Algeria. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113343.pdf. Accessed March 2016.
Commission of the European Union. (2015c). European Union, trade in goods with Libya. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113414.pdf. Accessed March 2016.
Commission of the European Union. (2015d). European Union, trade in goods with Mauritania. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/january/tradoc_147323.pdf. Accessed March 2016.
Commission of the European Union. (2015e). European Union, trade in goods with Morocco. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113421.pdf. Accessed March 2016.
Commission of the European Union. (2015f). European Union, trade in goods with Tunisia. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_122002.pdf. Accessed March 2016.
Conseil National des Droits de l’Homme- Royaume du Maroc (CNDH). (2008). Réparation Communautaire: Bilan de la Première Année de Lancement du Programme. http://www.ccdh.org.ma/spip.php?article715. Accessed Nov 2013.
Crombois, J. (2008). The ENP and EU actions in conflict management: Comparing between Eastern Europe and the Maghreb. Perspectives, 16(2), 29–51.
Darbouche, H., & Colombo, S. (2010). The EU, civil society and conflict transformation in Western Sahara: The failure of disengagement, MICROCON Policy working paper 13. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies/University of Sussex.
De Romémont, E. (2012). Quel Avenir pour le 5+5 Défense? In J. Coustillière (Ed.), Le 5+5 Face aux Défis du Réveil Arabe (pp. 19–26). Paris: L’Harmattan.
Del Sarto, R. A., & Schumacher, T. (2005). From EMP to ENP: What’s at stake with the European Neighborhood Policy towards the Southern Mediterranean? European Foreign Affairs Review, 10, 17–38.
5+5 Dialogue. (2013). Chronology of the main meetings (2003–2013). Available at: http://westmediterraneanforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/131017_chronology5+51.pdf. Accessed 11 Oct 2013.
EUROPA Press Release Database. (2009). Politique Européenne du Voisinnage—Maroc, Press Release. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-09-188_en.htm?locale=FR. Accessed 31 Dec 2013.
French Foreign Ministry. (2013). Les Relations Économiques Franco-Marocaines. http://www.ambafrance-ma.org/Les-relations-economiques-franco. Accessed Jan 2014.
Gillespie, R. (2008). A ‘Union for the Mediterranean’… or for the EU? Mediterranean Politics, 13(2), 277–286.
Gillespie, R. (2010). European Union responses to conflict in the Western Mediterranean. The Journal of North African Studies, 15(1), 85–103.
Gresham, P. (2011). The cross-border governance of Western Sahara. http://www.academia.edu/1129040/The_Cross-border_Governance_of_Western_Sahara. Accessed 17 Oct 2013.
Hernando de Larramendi, M. (2008). Intra-Maghrebi relations, unitary myth and national interests. In H. Y. Zoubir & H. Amirah-Fernandez (Eds.), North Africa: Politics, region, and the limits of transformation (pp. 179–201). London/New York: Routledge.
International Crisis Group (ICG). (2007). Western Sahara: The cost of the conflict (Middle East/North Africa report N°65). http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/dmag/dv/dmag20101130_04_/dmag20101130_04_en.pdf. Accessed Mar 2014.
Interview Algerian Diplomat. (2013). Alger, 2013.
Interview Director of the Centre des Etudes Sahariennes of University Mohamed V Rabat and Advisor of the president of the National Council for Human Rights. (2014). Rabat,24 June.
Interview Former Algerian Deputy, President of the National Association for Youth Exchanges (ANEJ). (2013). Rome, 16 November.
Interview Former French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. (2013). Paris, 20 November.
Interview Former Vice-President of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH). (2014). Casablanca, 10 March.
Interview Member of the Central Committees of International Relations, Civil and Political Rights of the Association Marocaine des Droits Humains (AMDH). (2014). Rabat, 23 June.
Interview Member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). (2013). Rome, 16 November.
Interview Moroccan Source. (2013). Paris, 19 November.
Interview President of the Think Tank Institute Amadeus. (2014). Rabat, 23 June.
Interview Professor of Political Sciences at the Euro-Mediterranean Studies Programme Cairo University. (2013). Cairo, 9 December.
Interview Professor of Political Science at the University of Rabat. (2014). Rabat, March 9.
Interview Representative in France of the Association for the Families of Sahrawi Prisoners and the Disappeared (AFAPREDESA). (2013). Rome, 16 November.
Interview Representative of the Polisario Front in Brussels. (2014). Brussels, 14 November.
Interview Research Fellow College of Europe. (2013). European Neighborhood Policy Chair, Warsaw, 19 December.
Interview SADR Minister for the European Union. (2013). Brussels, 22 November.
Interview Vice President of Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State, Member of the Committee for the Families of Disappeared Sahrawis. (2013). Rome, 16 November.
Jeannel, R. (1986). L’Incident de Pêche Franco-Espagnol du 7 Mars 1984 dans le Golfe de Gascogne. Annuaire Français de Droit International, 32, 736–740.
Jeune Afrique. (2012). Algérie: Visite Historique du Minister Marocain des Affaires Étrangères. Jeune Afrique. http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20120123140230/. Accessed Aug 2014.
Joffé, G. (1997). Southern attitudes towards an integrated mediterranean region. In R. Gillespie (Ed.), The Euro-Mediterranean partnership: Political and economic perspectives (pp. 12–32). London: Frank Cass.
Kausch, K., & Youngs, R. (2009). The end of the Euro-Mediterranean vision. International Affairs, 85(5), 963–975.
Khakee, A. (2010). Assessing democracy assistance: Morocco. Project report FRIDE. http://www.fride.org/download/IP_WMD_Morocco_ENG_jul10.pdf. Accessed May 2014.
Lamrani, E. (2013). L’Union du Maghreb ou l’Invincible Espoir. L’Année du Maghreb 2013: Dossier: Le Maghreb avec ou sans l’Europe? (Vol. IX, pp. 263–276).
Mezran, K. (1998). Maghibi foreign policies and the internal security dimension. The Journal of North African Studies, 3(1), 1–24.
Moroccan Times. (2014). Algeria reacts back to Morocco and decides to build separation fences along borders. Moroccan Times. http://moroccantimes.com/2014/09/morocco-algeria-build-separation-fences-along-borders/. Accessed Sept 2014.
Morocco News Tribune. (2013). Algeria sets 3 conditions to re-open borders with Morocco. http://morocconewstribune.com/algeria-sets-3-conditions-to-re-open-borders-with-morocco/. Accessed Aug 2014.
Mortimer, R. A. (1999). The Arab Maghreb Union: Myth and reality. In Y. H. Zoubir (Ed.), North Africa in transition: State, society and economic transformation in the 1990s (pp. 177–191). Gainsville: University of Florida.
Rivin, P. (2013). Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). In T. M. Leonard (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the developing world (pp. 67–68). London/New York: Routledge.
Romeo Nunez, M. A. (2012). 5+5 initiative. Mediterranean security: Shared security. http://www.ieee.es/en/Galerias/fichero/docs_marco/2012/DIEEEM07-2012_5x5_SegMed_RomeoNunez_ENGLISH.pdf. Accessed 31 Dec 2013.
Seeberg, P. (2013, December). Morocco and the EU: New tendencies in transnational migration and the EU’s migration policies, Center for Mellemoststudier. http://static.sdu.dk/mediafiles/D/F/D/%7BDFDED387-4E99-4E04-A998-933BCDCDCB97%7D1213PS.pdf. Accessed 12 June 2015.
Soddu, P. (2006). Ceuta and Melilla: Security, human rights and frontier control. Panorama (pp. 212–214). Available at http://www.iemed.org/anuari/2006/aarticles/aSoddu.pdf. Accessed May 2014.
Soudan, F. (2014). Algérie-Maroc: Désespérément Borne. Jeune Afrique, 54(2799), 19–20.
Tocci, N. (2007). Who’s a normative foreign policy actor: The EU and its global partners, CEPS working document 179. Brussels: CEPS.
Tunis REI Conference Report. (2013, July 18). Tunis Conference on Regional Economic Integration Conference Report. http://www.stimson.org/images/ uploads/Tunis _REI_Conference _Report.pdf. Accessed 29 Oct 2013.
UNICTAD STAT. (2015). Merchandise: Intra-trade and extra-trade of country groups by product, annual, 1995–2014. http://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/TableViewer/tableView.aspx. Accessed March 2016.
Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). (2014a). Trans-Maghreb Motorway Axis project: UfM organizes working days to define management action plan. http://ufmsecretariat.org/ufm-organises-high-level-seminar-to-define-an-action-plan-for-the-management-of-the-trans-maghreb-motorway-axis/. Accessed Aug 2014.
Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). (2014b). Action plan follow-up meeting for the Trans-Maghreb Motorway Axis (TMMA) horizontal actions. http://ufmsecretariat.org/action-plan-follow-up-meeting-for-the-trans-maghreb-motorway-axis-tmma-horizontal-actions/#. Accessed Sept 2014.
Union for the Mediterranean. (2015). Completion of the central section of the Trans-Maghreb Motorway Axis. http://ufmsecretariat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/06-TRANS-MAGHREB-ENGLISH.pdf. Accessed Dec 2016
UNSC. (2007). The situation concerning Western Sahara. Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council, Supplement 1989–1992. http://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire/89-92/Chapter%208/AFRICA/item%2008_Western%20Sahara_.pdf. Accessed Oct 2013.
Urdy, L. (2004). L’Europe et la Méditerranée Dix Ans après Barcelone: Voisins Dorénavant? In L’Année du Maghreb 2004: L’espace euro-maghrébin: des homes au peril des politiques (pp. 57–70).
Vanderwalle, D. (1999). Uneasy and unequal partners: A European perspective on change and development in North Africa. In D. Vandewalle (Ed.), North Africa: Development and reform in a changing global economy (pp. 93–110). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Vaquer, I., & Fanés, J. (2004). The European Union and Western Sahara. European Foreign Affairs Review, 9(1), 93–113.
White, G. (1996). The Mexico of Europe? Morocco’s partnership with the European Union. In D. Vandewalle (Ed.), North Africa: Development and reform in a changing global economy (pp. 111–128). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
World Bank. (2006). Is there a new vision for Maghreb economic integration? Social and Economic Development Group Middle East and North Africa Region. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ INTMENA/Resources/383590v10MAGHREBREPORTVOL1FEBRUARY2007.pdf. Accessed Mar 2014.
World Bank. (2010). Economic integration in the Maghreb. World Bank Middle East and North Africa Region. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/Maghrebpub.pdf. Accessed 13 Aug 2013.
Wunderlich, D. (2012). Differentiation and policy convergence against long odds: Lessons from implementing EU migration policy in Morocco. In E. Barbé & A. Herranz-Surrallés (Eds.), The challenge of differentiation in Euro-Mediterranean relations: Flexible regional cooperation or fragmentation (pp. 118–141). London/New York: Routledge.
Zoubir, Y. H. (1990). The Western Sahara conflict: Regional and international dimensions. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 28(2), 225–243.
Zoubir, Y. H. (2012). Tipping the balance towards intra-Maghreb unity in light of the Arab spring. The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs, 47(3), 83–99.
Zunes, S., & Mundy, J. (2010). Western Sahara: War, nationalism, and conflict irresolution. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Louis, J., Pinfari, M. (2017). Western Sahara: A ‘Head-in-the-Sand’ Approach to Maghrebi Integration. In: Diez, T., Tocci, N. (eds) The EU, Promoting Regional Integration, and Conflict Resolution. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47530-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47530-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47529-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47530-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)