EU Foreign Policy in the Mediterranean: Challenges and Opportunities

Derasat hosted a lecture by Dr Natalie Tocci, Deputy Director of the Italian think tank, Instituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) (Institute of International Affairs), entitled ‘EU Foreign Policy in the Mediterranean: Challenges and Opportunities’ on April 17th 2013.

This lecture provided a broad overview of European foreign policy, including its principal objectives, instruments and outcomes, focusing in particular on the Southern European neighbourhood i.e., the Mediterranean. Specifically, the lecture reviewed the panoply of EU foreign policy initiatives, from bilateral instruments such as the European Neighbourhood Policy to multilateral endeavors such as the Union for the Mediterranean. The lecture analysed the principal goals of these policies, their mechanisms and methods of action, and their impact to date. Special attention was devoted to the interaction between EU foreign policy instruments in the neighbourhood and EU relations with other strategic countries and regions, including global as well as regional powers such as the United States, Russia, Turkey and the Gulf. The lecture concluded by addressing possible forms of coordination between the EU and the GCC in the neighbourhood, with a special eye of attention for the sectoral areas of cooperation identified in the 2010 Joint Action Programme.

LECTURER: Dr Natalie Tocci, Deputy Director, IAI

Nathalie Tocci is Deputy Director of the Instituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), head of the Institute’s department, ‘The EU and the Neighbourhood’ and Editor of The International Spectator. She received her PhD in International Relations at the LSE in 2003. She was Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels (1999-2003), Jean Monnet and Marie Curie Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence (2003-2007), Associate Fellow at CEPS (2007-2009), and Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington (2009-2010). Her research interests include European foreign policy, conflict resolution, the European neighbourhood, with a particular focus on Turkey, Cyprus, the Mediterranean and the Middle East and the South Caucasus. Dr Tocci is the winner of the 2008 Anna Lindh award for the study of European foreign policy.

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