The Use of Conditionality in Support of Political, Economic and Social Rights: Unveiling the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership’s True Hierarchy of Objectives?

For about a decade the European Union has imposed conditions on the delivery of financial aid to third countries in order to promote economic, institutional and political reform. This approach has also been applied to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, which provides rather sophisticated legal and institutional resources to organize political conditionality. Whilst the general advancement of human rights remains a major topic for Euro-Mediterranean co-operation the efficiency of the conditionality methodology in supporting social and economic rights, as compared to strictly political rights, remains uncertain. This study examines the actual enforcement of such social conditionality in the case of two test countries, namely Morocco and Turkey.