The Mediterranean Region, between European Strategies and National Interests

From both a political and a politological perspective, the various actions and policies of the EEC/EU towards the Mediterranean might seem the outcome of either grand strategies or of narrow national interests of the big Mediterranean countries. In order to fully understand changes and continuity in the relations between the two sides of the Mediterranean, going from the concept of Eurafrica to the Union for the Mediterranean, it is necessary to rely on the analysis from the historical perspective which highlights, beyond anything else, a fundamental but little investigated pattern of the EEC/EU external relations: a minor interest of the Community in the Mediterranean. It is a difficult relationship, also at a bilateral level, that hardly meets the economic, political and international strategic interests involved, as the cases of North Africa, Turkey and Western Balkans prove. This paper, entirely based upon documents from the Historical Archives of the European Communities, outlines the many considerable but ineffective policies for the Mediterranean and it depicts the national interests of France, Spain and Italy, along with the endeavors, above all on behalf of the Parliament and the Commission, to foreshadow a comprehensive regional policy.