THE EU AND COOPERATION EUROPE LOOKS SOUTH

The changes on both banks of the Mediterranean since the second half of the 20(th) century have been divergent. On one side, Europe consolidated a process of unitary construction, culminating in the EU. In northern Africa, the end of colonialism was reflected in the birth of several independent States. But this has not meant losing a centuries-long common history around the Mediterranean sea. The EU began to establish bilateral agreements with the countries on the southern bank, but as of the nineties, with the interparliamentary meeting in Malaga and, above all, the Barcelona conference, a much more planned and more profound cooperation came into being. Association agreements were signed, MED projects initiated, the markets were reciprocally deregulated. In some cases, this led to hopeful results, as in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt itself. However, the process developed at other conferences (Marseilles, Valencia, Santa Maria da Feira, etc) has encountered important obstacles, such as the political crisis in some north African States and divergent interests within the EU.