The Political Economy of the Euro-Jordanian Economic Partnership:1995-2005

This study has examined the relations of the Euro-Arab cooperation and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in particular since its inception in 1995. As far as Jordan is concerned, the paper concludes that the key shortcomings and limitations of the EU’s foreign policy towards its southern Mediterranean flank was and remains to reside mainly in the lack of its consistent and balanced cooperation policy especially as far as political dimension of the cooperation is concerned. So far, the study perceives that the potential economic gains especially in terms of economic growth are seemingly discouraging towards Mediterranean partners with particular reference to Jordan. Despite the EU’s financial assistance, above analysis unequivocally illustrate that financial assistance cannot solely be construed a sufficient factor to attain economic growth and development under the partnership. On the contrary, it tends to reinforce the already state of dependency between the shores of the Mediterranean whereby the economic relations are shaped by the economic interests of the dominant states (e.g. the EU) whilst the development of the dependent states -Jordan in particular- can hardly be attained under such conditions and very much conditioned by the generosity of the dominant/core states.