ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the EU's trade policy, at the same time, produces unintended effects that can be ascribed basically to the EU's structural power within the Euro-Mediterranean political space. It explores that the EU's policy approach within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) was and is shaped by a specific logic of action that is suitable to support this 'stability' by strengthening the political economy environment in the Algerian rentier state which functions as a stabilising force for authoritarian government. Although the 'Arab Spring' puts into question the EU's role in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and lots of ink was spilled over the need to 'adapt' the EU's foreign policy approach to its southern neighbouring countries there are until now no signs of major adjustments affecting the core of EU-Algerian relations. When we look at the specific case of the EU's trade regime in the Mediterranean we can identify similar patterns.
