EU-MENA Relations amid COVID-19 Pandemic. Between Economic Issues, Migration Challenges and Authoritarian Risk

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong impact not only on individual states but also on the relations between them. It is contributing to reshaping international agreements and partnerships, and it is generating new alliances and rivalries among states. For instance, the pandemic has affected relations between European Union (EU) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. In particular, the virus spillovers have forced the EU—and EU member states—to focus on their domestic response to the pandemic. As a result, the EU is devoting less attention to foreign policy toward the southern neighborhood, despite the health emergency increasing the need for greater EU involvement in MENA countries. This chapter analyses how the spread of the virus has influenced EU foreign policy toward the MENA region. Retracing the long history of relations between the two shores of the Mediterranean, the chapter suggests that the pandemic is leading to the deterioration of an already fragile and controversial framework of cooperation.