The European Union's Cooperation on Law Enforcement with the Southern Neighbourhood

Since the 1990s, the European Union (EU) has rhetorically emphasised the importance of strengthening its cooperation with countries in the Southern Neighbourhood (SN) on many occasions through the development of multilateral and bilateral initiatives, such as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Renewed European Neighbourhood Policy and the new Agenda for the Mediterranean. Law enforcement (understood in the broad sense) has often been identified as a priority policy area. As a result, efforts have been made to strengthen law enforcement cooperation across the Mediterranean, notably through attempts at negotiating international agreements and implementing financial instruments. This article analyses these efforts within the context of the different institutional frameworks by the EU and its Southern Neighbours. We analyse the process(es) of policy learning for the participants in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in the last thirty years and also evaluate the results of the policy learning on Euro-Mediterranean relations. Overall, the results of these cooperation attempts have been relatively modest. This is notably due to the persistence of several obstacles to furthering cooperation. Amongst them, one can cite the development of a highly complex institutional and policy framework for the relations between the EU and the SN countries, the existence of duplications and overlaps amongst initiatives, the persistence of significant differences between the EU and the SN countries, the limited scale of some of the policy initiatives, as well as diplomatic tensions and instability across the region. In contrast, three factors have been identified as fostering cooperation: the reinforced role of the EU agencies, a focus on practical and tangible results and an emphasis on training activities. Based on this analysis, the article concludes by considering the diplomatic and operational levels of the EU’s cooperation with the SN countries.