Gonzalo Escribano

Sub‐regional integration in the MENA region and the euro‐mediterranean free trade area

The creation of a new Euro‐Mediterranean region in which to build a shared prosperity area requires existing North‐South economic integration to be complemented by South‐South trade liberalization. Trade links among the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries have remained at a very low level. There is room for greater commercial integration, although the scope for an increase in intra‐regional trade volume is limited. Trade liberalization could lead to a relocation of resources according to comparative advantage and to the growth of intra‐industry trade. However, some economic instruments are required both in order to allay political fears and in order to upgrade transport, communications and educational standards within the region.

Southern Europe's Economic Crisis and its Impact on Euro-Mediterranean Relations

The international economic crisis that began in 2008 entered a new phase in 2010when it became evident that Greece was experiencing extreme financial difficulties, which if unchecked could turn into a contagious sovereign debt crisis across Europe. After being focused on the rescue of the financial system and providing liquidity to markets, governments implemented countercyclical fiscal policies to mitigate the effect of the financial crisis on the real sector. Then the crisis showed a further European public finance dimension and the Euro was consequently put under pressure. In the following months, the public debt markets of several EU member states have been severely affected, forcing governments to adopt highly restrictive adjustment programmes. Budget deficit reduction in the context of sluggish growth and high rates of unemployment seems to be the economic policy equation to be solved for several years to come in most of these countries. The fact that Mediterranean member states have been especially hit has raised the question of what impact could this Mediterranean ‘saudade’ have on Euro-Mediterranean relations in the medium to long term. There are two different aspects here. First and foremost, it is unclear what the impact of the Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean EU crisis on the Mediterranean Partner Countries’ (MPCs) economies will be, and to answer this question requires a prospective and quantitative analysis that is outside the scope of this article. Secondly, there are questions about the effect of southernEuropean economic difficulties onEuroMediterranean relations themselves, in other words the functioning of the whole set of instruments covered by the EU’s Mediterranean policies, particularly its capacity to deliver significant new incentives to its Mediterranean neighbours. Interestingly this second aspect, while being of relatively minor importance from an economic perspective, seems to be more present in European academic debates than the more relevant one of the direct economic impact of the financial crisis on MPCs. However,

The geopolitics of renewable and electricity cooperation between Morocco and Spain

Abstract The materializ ation of the potential benefits derived from renewable electricity exchanges across the Mediterranean has been partly blocked due to energy security and geopolitical concerns. This profile explores the geopolitics of Moroccan –Spanish cooperation in electricity and renewable energies, identifying drivers and barriers for its development. It argues that narrow energy security considerations, namely an excessive focus on reducing energy dependence and ‘renewable mercantilism’, have acted as a barrier, while more comprehensive geopolitical approach could offer new strategic opportunities. It identifies two geopolitical positive externalities for both countries: the strategic benefits of belonging to a grid community and the soft power of projecting themselves as energy transition companions. Finally, it derives some policy implications for on-going and future initiatives promoting electricity interconnections and renewable exchanges across the Mediterranean, taking stock of the Desertec and the Mediterranean Solar Plan failed geopolitical narratives.

Oil Prices: Governance Failures and Geopolitical Consequences

ABSTRACT This article links two major areas of work on the geographies of oil: socially produced scarcity and the ‘new realities’ of oil, with wider geographical inquiries, mainly global energy governance. It explores how in the current context characterised by oversupply, power stands out as a key factor in the geopolitics of prices, the interactions amongst energy institutions, the role of supply and demand, and the preferences of the actors involved. Geopolitical approaches find a niche in the gaps left by the increasing complexities of global energy governance. In this regard, energy geopolitics may be thought of as ‘governance by other means’, an alternative to failed external energy governance solutions. The article then focuses on the consequences of the drop in oil prices on producer countries and how it will impact the major issues that dominate the literature on energy security. It concludes by stating that there is a need to rethink the geopolitics of energy security in order to incorporate the global governance institutions’ failure to facilitate cooperation as another cause of the re-securitisation of energy policies.