The EU’s Agricultural and Industrial Policies Towards the North African Countries after the Arab Spring

The response of the EU after the revolts of the Arab Spring was to announce a new and more ambitious European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) with the aim to make the ENP more objective and effective. The new ENP is based on three axles; Money, Market access and Mobility and for the economic aspect of the policy emphasis is given to inclusive growth and support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

To promote inclusive growth the European Commission has designed new regional programmes. ENPARD and SPRING were created for helping small producers and supporting the sustainable development of the agricultural and industrial sectors of the North African countries. The aim of this paper is to analyse the EU initiatives in the two sectors. The article argues that despite the rhetoric of the European Commission, the ideas of policy makers have not changed substantially after the Arab Spring. The paper claims that due to the unchanged configuration of power within the EU and the North African countries, technocratic engineering falls into cognitive traps of the past and reproduces older unsuccessful policies. The new programmes continue to benefit asymmetrically established interests in both sectors and through such approaches the EU contributes to the perpetuation of the existing divisions in North African countries.