Assessing EU Aid to the ‘Southern Partners’ of the European Neighbourhood Policy: Who Benefits from the Reforms in the Agricultural and Industrial Sector?

Abstract

This article critically assesses the claims of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) to support the economic development of 'southern rim' states. By amending Putnam's two-level game analysis the paper exposes the interactions between domestic, national and supranational actors and demonstrates the outcomes of the ENP reforms in the agricultural and industrial sectors. Particular attention is given to the contribution of the ENP to the development of a dual agricultural market in these countries and to the effects of standardisation for North African businesses. The article concludes by arguing that in both case studies, and despite the changes brought by the 'Arab spring', (recalibrated) elites still retain established vertical ties with domestic businesses (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) -a situation that benefits certain EU industrial and agricultural companies as well.

Borderlands

“…Europe's focus on security and the prevention of unwanted migration from the south, at the expense of human rights, also militates against the EU's claim to export democracy (Cassarino 2005;Joffé 2008;Cassarino and Del Sarto 2018). Furthermore, the EU's traditionally protectionist trade policies on agriculture, particularly problematic vis-à-vis developing countries (Tovias 2006;Kourtelis 2015), and the prioritization of energy security over reforms are far from 'normative' in the sense of the 'normative power Europe' concept. Last but not least, the EU and its members have displayed a noteworthy inability to resolve conflicts in the 'neighbourhood' (Nuriyev 2007;Tocci 2008;Whitman and Wolff 2010;Gordon and Pardo 2015).…”

“…Inter alia, training programmes for local administrative bodies in the agricultural sector in these countries have promoted European sanitary and phytosanitary standards, which are more demanding than WTO requirements. While higher food standards are certainly beneficial for consumers in general, the adoption and implementation of these standards are very costly for small-scale farmers (Kourtelis 2015;). Yet once local agricultural companies implement these rules in MENA states, European companies benefit from improved market access (Roccu 2018a).…”

“…While pushing for the production of specific agricultural products, such as olives and figs in Tunisia, Europe also encouraged the production of cash crops to secure foreign exchange and food crops specifically destined for international markets (Kourtelis 2015;2018: 35)-chiefly, the European one. Off-season timetables and quotas thus ensure European consumers year-around access to fresh fruit and vegetables, together with more 'exotic' products such as dates and pistachios, without seriously competing with agricultural production from within the EU.…”

“…While this outcome is as much a failure of past and present agricultural policies of MENA governments, Europe had its part to play in the emergence of a dual agricultural market in the Arab Mediterranean Middle East (Kourtelis 2015). In this dual system, the same crony capitalists and their political allies often succeeded in capturing both the export-oriented agribusiness and the licencing business for imports.…”

“…Morocco's privatization schemes similarly attracted French and Spanish farmers and allowed the expansion of European capital into the North African agricultural sector (Benamar 2020). As traditional food production for local populations and subsistence farming decreased, small farmers were the main losers in this process (Kourtelis 2015).…”