ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) should likewise promote cooperation in the field of energy and natural resources through the Euro-Mediterranean Energy Forum. Environmental protection and sustainable development should also be a priority issue in the EU’s Mediterranean agenda. The short-term dislocations the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership could engender may well exacerbate socio-political instability in the southern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean countries’ debt problems may be compounded by a consumption boom sparked by imports of European industrial goods. The process of political democratisation in the Third Mediterranean Countries (TMC) is likewise fraught with uncertainty. The crisis in the peace process ‘constitutes a serious threat to the ambitious long-term policy of the European Union for the Euro-Mediterranean region’, the Commission declares. Infrastructure development projects in the TMCs should continue to be a priority. Throughout the Mediterranean region, water, and roads are sorely lacking. An increase in EU exports to the Mediterranean will only exacerbate the negative balance of payments that countries in the south are experiencing.
