The EU, the Middle East and North Africa [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is of strategic importance for the European Union because of its proximity, historic links, energy resources, trade routes and ability to export instability that results from wars, political volatility and poverty in the region.

The EU wants to contribute to stability in MENA through such instruments as the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Barcelona Process and the Union for the Mediterranean.

This note offers links to recent commentaries and reports by major international think tanks EU-MENA relations, general problems of the region and some of its countries. More reports on the region can be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are Thinking’ on the EU’s southern neighbourhood.

EU-MENA relations

Implications of the EU Global Strategy for the Middle East and North Africa
Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, July 2016

The unmet challenge of interdependence in the EU-MENA space: A view from the south
OCP Policy Centre, Bruegel, May 2016

Report on democracy assistance from the European Union to the Middle East and North Africa
European Policy Centre, German Marshall Fund, May 2016

The eastern Mediterranean in 2020: Possible scenarios and policy recommendations
Hellenic Foundation for European Foreign Policy, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, April 2016

North African and European strategic interests coincide
Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, April 2016

The EU and conflict resolution in the Mediterranean neighbourhood: Tackling new realities through old means?
Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission, European Institute of the Mediterranean, March 2016

For a New Deal: Africa–Mediterranean–Europe
Institut de Prospective Economique du Monde Méditerranéen, February 2016

Five years on. A new European agenda for North Africa
European Council on Foreign Relations, February 2016

US and EU engagement with Islamists in the MENA region
Transatlantic Academy, August 2015

Back to the future: the ‘new’ ENP towards the Southern neighbourhood and the end of ambition
College of Europe, January 2016

Europe still looks at southern neighbours
Carnegie Europe, March 2016

Other reports on MENA

Democratic citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa
Carnegie Europe, July 2016

China in the Eastern Mediterranean
Clingendael, July 2016

La diplomatie russe au Moyen-Orient : Retour à la géopolitique
Institut français des relations internationales, May 2016

The performance of banks in the MENA region during the global financial crisis
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, May 2016

Countering violent extremism in the MENA region: Time to rethink approaches and strategies
EuroMesco, May 2016

Speaking up safely: Civil society guide to whistleblowing. Middle East and North Africa Region
Transparency International, May 2016

#HashtagSolidarities: Twitter debates and networks in the MENA region
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, March 2016

The changing patterns of arms imports in the Middle East and North Africa
Center for Strategic and International Studies, February 2016

The changing dynamics of cross-border human smuggling and trafficking in the Mediterranean
Istituto Affari Internazionali, October 2015

The human cost of war in the Middle East: A graphic overview
Center for Strategic and International Studies, February 2016

Youth activism in the South and East Mediterranean countries since the Arab uprisings: Challenges and policy options
Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission, European Institute of the Mediterranean, Istituto Affari Internazionali, February 2016

Les transformations géopolitiques dans la région MENA : Les dynamiques structurantes
Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission, European Institute of the Mediterranean, August 2015

Geopolitics and democracy in the Middle East
FRIDE, August 2015

Individual countries

Egypt

Salafi Jihadist violence in Egypt’s north Sinai: From local insurgency to Islamic State province
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, April 2016

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in 2016: Scenarios and recommendations
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, March 2016

Egypt’s botched revolution: Absolutism and the infelicitous role of external actors
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, August 2015

Libya

After Warsaw: A 3-point plan to manage migration through Libya
European Council on Foreign Relations, July 2016

Intervening better: Europe’s second chance in Libya
European Council on Foreign Relations, May 2016

Migration in Libya: Transit zone or final destination?
Overseas Development Institute, April 2016

Libye : Intervenir, encore?…
Institut français des relations internationales, April 2016

A stable Libya would close the door to Daesh
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2016

Facts on the European dimension of displacement and asylum: Libya
Bertelsmann Stiftung, February 2016

Syria

From local actor to global threat: The so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, April 2016

Steps toward stabilising Syria’s northern border
International Crisis Group, April 2016

Overview Syrian peace talks
Clingendael, March 2016

Enhancing aid architecture in the regional response to the Syria crisis
Overseas Development Institute, February 2016

Tunisia

The problem of two Tunisias has not gone away
Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, June 2016

Mapping out the scope and contents of the DCFTAs with Tunisia and Morocco
Centre for European Policy Studies, May 2016

Jihad instead of democracy? Tunisia’s marginalised youth and Islamist terrorism
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, April 2016

What is new in the ‘borderlands’?: The influence of EU external policy-making on security in Tunisia and Morocco after the uprisings
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, January 2016

Others

The EU, Morocco, and the Western Sahara: A chance for justice
European Council on Foreign Relations, June 2016

Europe and Israel: A complex relationship
Istituto Affari Internazionali, May 2016

The EU’s self-defeating aid policy towards Palestine
Centre for European Policy Studies, May 2016

EU-Iran Relations after the nuclear deal
Centre for European Policy Studies, May 2016

Yemen: Stemming the rise of a chaos state
Chatham House, May 2016

Iraq at War (again):- Perspectives and options for a long-term counter-terrorism and counter violent extremism strategy in Iraq
Clingendael, March 2016

Yemen: Is peace possible?
International Crisis Group, February 2016

EU-Morocco cooperation on readmission, borders and protection: A model to follow?
Centre for European Policy Studies, January 2016

Deciphering Algeria: The stirrings of reform?
European Council on Foreign Relations, December 2015

Algeria and its neighbours
International Crisis Group, October 2015

Periphery under pressure: Morocco, Tunisia and the European Union’s Mobility Partnership on migration
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, October 2015

Realigning EU policy in Palestine: Towards a viable state economy and restored dignity
Chatham House, October 2015