ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on European (EU) security policy towards the Mediterranean, the general picture of security in the region must first be drawn. It presents an overview of the main items on the Mediterranean security agenda and then goes on to assess how these affect the interests of the EU - interests which the EU turns out to have in common with its Mediterranean neighbours. The low level of regional integration constitutes a political gap between both shores of the Mediterranean. An important factor in the Mediterranean region is Islamism: groups 'seeking to increase Islam's role in society and politics, usually with the goal of an Islamic state'. Terrorism is much abundant in the Mediterranean. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular has generated a large number of terrorist acts, while in the Arab countries a number of opposition movements, islamist ones and others, have reverted to terrorism as a way of achieving their objectives.
