Jara Amira von Call, Germano-Lebanese graduate of Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence. Future postgraduate student at the College of Europe in Bruges.

Abstract

With the beginning of the 21st century, Germany’s Mediterranean policy has been experiencing a certain dynamization. The creation of the Union for the Mediterranean (2008), the Arab Spring (2011) and the international military intervention in Libya (2011) put the Southern Mediterranean on the political agenda of the Federal Republic. However, even if Germany’s foreign policy responses to these transformation processes differ, the core interests of Germany in the Mediterranean remain the same (descending prioritisation): (1) Freedom of trade routes and the protection of undersea cables, (1) Prevention of further streams of refugees to Europe, (2) Strengthening EU’s actorness and maintaining NATO’s cohesion, (2) Upholding its responsibility towards the international community while limiting the expansionist influences of state-actors (Russia and Turkey) and (3) Contributing to the fight against terrorism and the illicit trade of arms and humans (Berlin process). Israel’s security continues to be a “raison d’Etat” for Germany but is not anymore the decisive interest of the Federal Republic in the MENA region (Prioritisation varies according to political party).