The Mediterranean dialogue - a transatlantic approach

"One of the consequences of the EU expansion is the advancement of the Middle East and Mediterranean region to constitute the southern borders of the EU. Thus, the strategic importance of these regions to the EU has increased. A significance that has been strengthened by the special relationship that the two regions (the EU and the Gulf) share with international terrorism: one is the target of terrorist attacks and the other the birth and breeding place of terrorists. The fact that these areas (the Middle East and North Africa) are predominantly Moslem, a religion that the terrorists claim to be fighting for, considerably increases their strategic relevance to the Western World. In recognition of this fact, Western international institutions - the EU, the OSCE, NATO and even the USA - have respectively initiated and intensified dialogues with the political leaders and international institutions of these Middle East and Mediterranean areas aimed at laying a solid foundation for political and economic developments in these areas, not only for peace, political stability and economic prosperity, but also as a sustainable counter offensive against terrorism. The following article traces the developments in the dialogues with these regions featuring a series of international institutions that have thus evolved in this process and calls for mutually reinforcing efforts." (author's abstract