ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a case for why a Mediterranean policy is needed, incorporating the views of both the globalists and the realists. It focuses on the problems facing the Third Mediterranean Countries (TMCs). The chapter considers the potential impact—social, political and economic—that southern Mediterranean instability poses for Europe. The population of the TMCs has been increasing rapidly since the 1940s, straining to their limits the societies and economies of the region. Members of the European Parliament have been especially critical of the lack of democratic institutions and respect for human rights in the TMCs and elsewhere in the world, and have not hesitated to block financial aid to countries whose practices fall short of accepted norms. The TMCs are at the mercy of the European Union’s economic performance and its trade laws. Because the TMCs rely on Europe for much of their trade, their economies are conditioned by the latter’s economic performance.
