Introduction: sowing the wind

Abstract

In an old Moroccan folk tale, Alexander the Great once separated Morocco from Europe with an order to his legions to dig the Strait of Gibraltar (Barādah, Qaddūrī, 2000, 24). Answering the call for protection against rioting “wild Berbers of the south” in today’s southern Spain, Alexander not only connected the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean basin, he also disconnected the European from the African continent. Ever since, Morocco aimed at closing the gap to Europe, peaking in 1984 with its bid to join the European Community. Instead of becoming a member state, Morocco’s relationship with the European Union (EU) developed to one of the most advanced economic and political cooperations in Europe’s neighborhood. The central goal of this book is to unravel the relationship between the EU and Morocco and analyze to what extent EU rules and norms were integrated into Morocco’s domestic system.