ABSTRACT
European Union (EU)-Mediterranean relations have, from the 1960s to date, come to symbolize the parallel shift in the policy-making literature from ‘government to governance’. This new process of EU governing of Mediterranean relations at a distance has been characterized by a move from ‘rowing to steering’, or in other words, a new process of governing which aims to encourage and privilege Mediterranean partners’ initiatives in this relation. On paper and in principal, this move has shifted EU policies in the Mediterranean from top-down, bureaucratic and technical control of Mediterranean relations to co-operative, joint, co-ownership of EU-Mediterranean relations’ processes, with the aim of having greater visibility of these processes among citizens. In practice, this relationship is still fraught with huge challenges, not least due to the recent negative course which the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has taken, the embedded distrust between Arab Mediterranean partners and the lack of a unified voice from these same partners.
