The Euro-Mediterranean economic relations a perception from the center of Italy

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Author, affiliation and Position Paola Cascinelli Professor of International Business and Organizational Behavior at Arcadia University, Center for Italian Studies Author's contacts Via Giovannipoli 65, 00100, Roma, 0039 3395381104, [email protected] A short bio Dr. Paola Cascinelli holds a European Ph.D. in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies from La Sapienza University of Rome. Her emphasis is on the interaction between cultural and economic factors. She was visiting scholar in Europe and USA. She is professor of Organizational Behaviour and International Business at Arcadia University, Center for Italian Studies in Rome. At Arcadia she is also the Coordinator of Experiential Learning and Special Projects. Dr. Cascinelli is special advisor to the Lazio Regional Government, coordinating the internationalization efforts of the Commissioner of Economic Development and Productivity and helping local firms to reorganize their internal processes for new and developing markets. Before coming to Rome, she worked as consultant in Leadership, Management, Team Building and Organization Development in complex and developing contexts for small and medium enterprises, local authorities and think tanks. She wrote many articles on the European integration policy towards the Member Countries and the Mediterranean Third Countries. Her last publication (2013) is about the Italian policies for Mezzogiorno and their effects on business.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tit le The Euro-Mediterranean economic relations: a perception from the center of Italy Abstract The European Union keeps investing in the improvement of the Euro-Mediterranean economic relations. According to the official statements, the EU would like to realize a free market area to win the international competition with the other regional blocks exploiting all the typical advantages of the regional industrial districts: low transportation costs and a distributed value chain that takes advantages of different availability of raw materials, competencies, know-how, specific national regulations and different levels of salary. As stated by the sociological theory, the free market society requires, to function correctly, a deep division of labor and a high level of mutual trust and common values. Are there these preconditions in the Mediterranean area to realize a free trade area and a regional industrial district? Have the recent Euro-Mediterranean policies laid the foundation for a growth of the common values and of the mutual trust, overcoming centuries of cultural and economic divisions and the hypothesis of a clash of civilization? Is the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area only an ideology that demonstrates how the European Union is far from the reality? The aim of this paper is to clarify the sociological prerequisites to market society, and to discuss how cognitive factors, as social representations, have in impact in favoring or hindering the process of economic integration. After that, in order to start answering the previous questions, I will interview 20 regional policy-makers and entrepreneurs from Lazio, a region at the center of Italy where Rome is located. I want to focus the attention on a specific region because I want to better understand how local authorities are reacting to the Euro-Mediterranean integration, given that, in the reform of Italian administrative system, the regional governments (NUTS 2, in EU term) have acquired a relevant role. The interviewees will answer to an open questionnaire to understand their perception on the euro-Mediterranean relations, if this perception has evolved during the last ten year and after the Arab Spring, if they have undertaken or promoted economic relations between Italy and the other shore of the Mediterranean sea and if the European Union has a role in these relations. Keywords

Euro-Mediterranean economic cooperation, social representations, encounter of civilizations, clash of

civilizations

Abbreviations EMFTA Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Agreement MPCs Mediterranean Partner Countries: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey FDIs Foreign Direct Investments

Index

Introduction: the Euro-Med policies and their economic dimension

The theoretical basis: Smith and Durkheim

A sociological explanation of the poor results in the Mediterranean area

Testing the hypothesis: the interviews

Conclusions

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Introduction: the Euro -Med policies and their economic dimension Starting in 1995, an Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was created in Barcelona, joining together all of the Mediterranean neighbors countries, except for Balkans, to which another cooperation program was dedicated, and Libya, which had participated to the periodic conventions as observer, not having accepted all the clauses of the Barcelona Agreement.1 In 2004, this partnership merged into the Neighborhood Policy, a new instrument created to homogenize and make more coherent the EU financial interventions in its Eastern and Southern periphery. Later, in 2008, a new framework was created to give new direction to the Barcelona Process: the Union for the Mediterranean. Despite this recent evolution in the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, the basic strategies have remained more or less the same, addressing three key aspects: the political and security aspect, which aims to establish a common area of peace and stability; the economic and financial aspect, which hopes to allow the creation of an area of shared prosperity; and the social, cultural and human aspect, which aims to develop human resources and promote understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies.2 Even if the core of the EU strategy didn’t change substantially, analyzing the EU legal production about the economic dimension of the Partnership it is clear that the evolutions of the Mediterranean cooperation were motivated by four principal trends: the need for a better involvement of MPCs in the definition of the development strategies, the need for the improvement of the efficiency and efficacy of the economic interventions through a better programming and monitoring¸ the necessity of guaranteeing a multilateral and regional approach to the area; the need for overcoming the division between internal and external EU affairs.3 In the economic field, the principal goal of the partnership is the realization of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area (EMFTA), meant to “create an area of shared stability”.4 In summary, the idea is that an efficient free trade area applied to all trade relations will bring to the European Member States geo-strategic stability, provide raw materials, ensure enterprise growth and create opportunities to export technologies and investments to the South5; on the side of the MPCs, economic integration will mean a potential consumer market and the development of a modern and competitive business system thanks to European infrastructures and knowledge. Moreover, for both Mediterranean rims, the EMFTA means a competitive strategy to fight international competition thanks to the described mutual advantages. This approach is called “low politics strategy” in the literature and it is found on the movement of market dynamics that can be used as democratization forces, thanks to the spill-over effects that are transmitted to society. When political consensus exists, free trade and economic liberalization can positively affect investments. These, then, can stimulate export income, improve commercial balances, and reduce foreign debt. Thank to these results, it is thought possible to enhance political and social stability and strengthen incentives through political liberalization and transition to democracy.6 These expected results are based on the idea that some economic complementarities exist in the region that have to be improved to create greater prosperity, wellness and co-development.7 The aim of the EU was to create a “Euro-Mediterranean productive area” to which it might progressively apply a unique industrial policy, in which industrial output and job levels could be maintained through research, innovation and cooperation programs and in which inclusive and structured regional policies should be used to promote the region as one integrated and productive area.8 To put this program into action the EU gives priority to three goals: 1) the implementation of liberal reforms in MPCs in order to bring the economic and social systems of the two rims closer together; 2) the progressive trade liberalization of the industrial, agricultural and service sectors, with the abolition of both formal and informal barriers to commerce

1 The Barcelona Process, then, joined together: EU, Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria,

Tunisia and Turkey. 2 Cfr. European Commission, 2005b, p. 1. 3 Cfr. Cascinelli P., 2010. 4 EuropeanCommission, 1996, p.1/9 5 It is also important to remember that the EU needs to control immigration and to secure the region, guaranteeing a peaceful periphery. Both of these goals could be reached through the diffusion of free market. 6 This strategy is based on the experiences that European Union gained during the years of integration policy as directed toward its member states, particularly Portugal, Spain, Greece, Eastern Europe, Malta and Cyprus. Marenco, 2004. 7 The economic complementarities are identified specifically in the textile and clothes industry and the agro-food industry, sectors in which a relevant number of Mediterranean enterprises from both shores are committed. In the whole region, these two sectors are threatened by the same challenges coming from inexpensive Chinese products and the enterprises are preeminently SMEs, employing about 40% of total MPCs occupation, mainly women (which, in case of development of this industry, could mean the realization of a more diffused and participated transformation). In the EU’s opinion, the textile and the agroo-food industrues will experience different social and economic advantages by the economic integration of the Mediterranean rims thanks to the advantageous mix of commercial preferences, geographical proximity to Europe, cheap labor and the possibility of obtaining a high-quality product thanks to the diffuse work skills and the presence of European funds. For the textile and clothing sector cf. European Union, 2004, all the documents, and Council of the European Union, 2007-11-5, p. 9. For the agro-food sector cf. IE Med, 2008, p. 241-42. 8 European Commission, 2005b, p.1.

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and the consequent homogenization of rules and custom controls; 3) the deepening of trade relations between MPCs by the means of a customs union.9 In applying this process, the EU recognize that many SMEs in the MPCs might suffer as a result of the lower protection stemming from market openness, with harmful consequences for jobs and social stability. Thus, the EU has also financed different programs to minimize the controversial social and economic effects that it is thought might derive from the implementation of the described reforms.10 At the same time, the EU believes that the extension of the benefits of the economic and social European model would compensate the MPCs for the efforts required of them.11 The theoretical basis: Smith and Durkheim What are the theoretical bases of the described European Union policies? The European Union promotion of the relations toward its periphery is based on a combination of free market and financial and technical assistance. This model is based on the idea that the institutions of the competitive capitalism, promoting economic development, conciliate economic efficiency and consensus: given that, it is believed, free trade increases the wellness of every social class and reduces the inequalities, a progressive spontaneous social agreement starts to grow, a shared consensus of the community on the basic social values, on the regulating norms, on the objectives to be achieved and on the means to be utilized. In few words, the majority of population, once seen the benefits, will adjust to the institutional, economic and cultural cornerstones of the modern liberal democracy based on capitalistic market. This idea of economic development and the role of the Institutions were theorized by Adam Smith in 1776 and it still seems to play a big role in the development recipes proposed by the EU to the surrounding countries. Those recipes, in fact, are based on the idea, sustained by Smith, that the diffusive capacity of the competitive capitalism cannot be contained as the private self-interested actions of private individuals, mediated through free markets, generate results that are good for all. The market-system comprehends the true level of demand for any good and provides the appropriate incentives – profits – to adjust the output to match with the needs and to create the more efficient division of labor between the cooperating partners. No external intervention or guidance is necessary. This mechanism and its benefits will inevitably, progressively and automatically spread to new places in the world, overcoming the thoughtless, artificial and unjustified obstacles of human laws. It will spread thanks to their efficiency if compared with other forms of economic organizations, as to say for its capacity to satisfy the preferences of private individuals at a lower cost.12 But this economic perspective has also its sociological corollary. As stated by the social theory, the competitive market, to be efficient and to create a functioning division of labor, needs some extra-contractual elements that imply a diffused trust and shared expectations between all the cooperating partners. Indeed, the convergence of collective interests would only create weak and exterior links, as scarce information and the risks of tricks and frauds could generate distortions, discouraging the creation of the thousand of micro-practices that create a recreate market economy. Because of this, economic relations and exchange of resources that could bring advantages to the contractors, and, more generally, to the entire community (promoting a progressive economic development), would partially realize or would not realize at all.

9 With regard to the first goal, the implementations of liberal reforms in MPCs to more closely integrate the economic and social systems of the two rims, the EU interventions were based on MPCs’ “adjustment and modernization of economic and social structures, giving priority to the promotion and development of the private sector, the upgrading of the productive sector and the establishment of an appropriate institutional and regulatory framework for a market economy”. European Commission, 2005b, p.3. Therefore, this goal means to reform private, public and commercial law and banking and financial sector on the basis of the protection of free competition. It also means the promotion of a trained entrepreneurial class by means of a reformed educational system. Concerning the second goal, the progressive trade liberalization of the industrial, agricultural and service sectors, the FTA process required the abolition of both formal barriers to commerce (like customs duties) and informal ones, with the progressive standardization of regulations, rules and controls. This homogenization means to progressively eliminate “obstacles to direct foreign investment” and encourage “internal savings in order to support economic development” in the industrial, financial, and sanitarian fields. (Ibidem). The goal of free trade with and among partner countries will also require further legislative approximation in fields such as company law, accounting and auditing rules. It requires a comprehensive prudential regulatory framework combined with efficient and independent supervisory bodies in the area of financial services. In addition, partners needed to be encouraged to enforce regulations regarding competition through independent competition authorities to ensure that companies were able to operate on a level playing field and the non-discriminatory treatment of investors. Finally, convergence towards comparable approaches and definitions, increased transparency in the tax system, and legislative approximation of anti-trust and state aid regulations are needed to advance towards convergence with the Internal Market. European Parliament, 2007-03-15. The third goal of the economic pillar of the Barcelona Process concerns the economic integration of MPCs. The EU believes, according to the economic integration theory, that one of the principal obstacles to MPC growth is the limited dimension of their internal markets. It is believed that deeper trade relations among them will create an export market that will be simultaneously wider and protected from international competition. Thanks to this, the MPCs will attract more foreign investments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBO6KlL8x_4 10The financial aids, however, are directly linked to the progressive realization of the asked reforms. 11Cf. European Commission, 2000. 12 A perspective that has its political counterpart in the idea that, as affirmed by Churchill, “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. Quoted in Tremonti, G., 2008, p.104. It is also important to underline that the democracy Churchill is referring to is specifically the kind of liberal democracy that is in place in the western world since two centuries.

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What is needed is the development of extra-economic relations that, defining the social dimension of the market, structure and regulate interactions and behaviors by the means of shared expectations, representations, values, norms, institutions and shared social sanctions. In one word, a new, shared, solidarity emerges. This interpersonal solidarity defines reciprocal expectations and social aims and limits individual interests, increasing the social legitimization and the degree of social acceptance of market relations. This “organic” solidarity, then, offers a new “collective conscience” to the participants.13 This sociological appendix to the main economic theory shares the evolutionist approach. The organic solidarity is the natural result of a process of diffusion (from the single individual to the collectivity) of the benefit of a market society. In fact, the extra-contractual relations develop progressively together with the economic advantages of free market and through the diffusion of the capitalistic division of labor that guarantee the more equal and profitable results. When economic benefits are experienced by a large number of social actors, the motivations toward a well functioning free market start to grow and to acquire authority. On the basis of this ideal model, and of its economic and sociological postulates, the building up of the Euro-Mediterranean relations should go more or less like this: progressively, small and big economic exchanges start to grow attracted by the potential economic advantages that, as we saw, characterize the Mediterranean region. New enterprises and employment start to grow in complementary industries, increasing an integrated regional division of labor and progressively developing stable common values and expectations, an interpersonal trust and a shared solidarity. Thank to this, a wide range of collective interests starts to ask for economic integration and common regulating institutions become necessary. These institutions will guarantee the diffusion and the respect of this solidarity, they will legitimize the market relations and will make possible predict personal or group behaviors and sanction violations. 14 The European Union’s regionalism is found on the realization of this ideal model, and it directs its actions towards: a free market that is able to realize an efficient division of the regional labor and an organic solidarity, the homologation of the regulative institutions to predict and sanction behaviors, financial and technical assistance to compensate the adverse effects on firms and individuals generated by the openness of the market. In this way, the EU believes possible to create a Euro-Mediterranean solidarity that found and repeat market relations, the benefits of which create political stability and consensus, guarantying, in a spiral process, a further development of the regional solidarity. A sociological explanation of the poor results in the Mediterranean area What were the results of the EU interventions based on the described theories? According to the literature 15 , after almost twenty years of EU intervention the results do not indicate sufficient improvements. Europe prefers to invest in other developing regions, the MPCs’ reforms have not been adequate to attract a satisfactory quota of international FDIs and the economic integration between MPCs did not yield the expected results. How we can explain this performance data? The classical approach to economic integration processes identifies different reasons for the limited success of the EMFTA: low levels of job skills, a sparse entrepreneurial environment, a dearth of market integration, scarce implementation of liberal reforms, etc.16

13 These elements are fundamental part of a well functioning division of labor. The link between division of labor and the development of a founding solidarity is underlined both by Durkheim and Simand. For Durkheim the modern solidarity is organic as “it is stimulated by the development of the division of labor itself that feeds the perception of reciprocal dependence among different individuals as specialized functions of an organism” Trigilia, 1998 p. 185. Simiand believes that the division of labor in the modern society “needs and continuously recreates a fabric of psychological collective facts (with legal, moral, social or economic nature) characterized by a relation of reciprocal influence among economic phenomenon and other social facts”. Meldolesi, 1991 p. XXXIX. 14 In this field as in others, the institutions are formed in a way to manage the anxieties derived from the meeting of groups with different interests, institutions to which it is given the task to regulate the behaviors and the reciprocal expectations, as well as to sanction the violations and to satisfy the expectations of certainty and risks. Celestino, 2007 15 IE Med, I. E. (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008); Femise. (September 2006), SIA-EMFTA consortium. (2007). 16 The integration process experts (SIA-EMFTA consortium, 2007) believe that this poor performance should be explained especially taking into consideration the political weakness of the MPCs’ governments, which have failed, also because of the recent financial crises, to adjust their socio-institutional systems to an ever-changing global economic environment. Indeed, the reform processes achieved weaker results than the reforms implemented by other developing countries. This would also explain why European FDIs has been more steadily directed toward the Eastern periphery, which features major state stability, a better education system and more cultural complementarities. Another important factor that many have identified is the failure to resolve the principal tensions existing in the region during the implementation of the Euro-Mediterranean policies, like the Middle East conflict. These conflicts hinder the development of economic relations, especially in the South, and the complete realization of the expected economic and social benefits. Finally, the SIA-EMFTA consortium, a study center charged by the EU with studying the sustainability of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Agreements, in 2007 affirmed that the European Member States and the MPCs do not deepen economic integration and, consequently, do not act according to the European Union intention, to avoid the classic harmful effects of the FTA when it links

together countries with different levels of economic and political development. SIA-EMFTA consortium, 2007. According to this point of view, the MPCs do not deepen economic integration because they have become more aware of potential EMFTA impacts than at the beginning of the process. These impacts could be: short-term rises in unemployment, particularly from the liberalization of EU-MPC trade in industrial products and agriculture

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These approaches, even if different, explain the lack of economic integration as a kind of supply/demand problem and in terms of political or economic benefits/costs perceived by the partners of the process. The European Union agrees on this analysis and, trying to find solutions to the problems that limit the EMFTA’s success, believes it is necessary on one hand to go forward with expanding the liberal reforms, and, on the other hand, to realize full (even if progressive) economic integration. In this paper I would like to introduce another explanation for the limited success of the EMFTA, trying to look at the problem from a sociological point of view. As we said, the free market society can work only in presence of a division of labor and an organic solidarity that justify that specific form of economic organization from the social and cultural point of view. According to Smith and Durkheim, these processes will spread automatically as individuals and groups will perceive the competitive market as the more useful economic organization, the one that realizes the highest efficiency in comparison with all the others. European Union, on these theoretical bases, believes that the Mediterranean regional solidarity will automatically and progressively spread together with the advantages of the market. I would like to focus the attention on the fact that the cognitive elements that are part of an organic solidarity cannot be explained or understood only with the categories of the theory of the rational choice, as the rational calculation of costs and opportunities. A social order, to be accepted and legitimized, has to be congruent to the prevalent cultural and social schemes of a given society based on cognitive, not always rational, components of human behavior, simplifications based on previous experiences, mental shortcuts. People will adapt to a new social system or to a new economic organization not only if they perceive its utility, but also because it is coherent with previous knowledge and believes. In this realm, social representations acquire a relevant role in orienting behaviors. Social representations are the way in which individuals orientate themselves, master their material and social world, name and classify the various aspects of their individual and social history according to different systems of values, ideas and practices. Indeed, social representations are collective elaborations useful to ascribe meaning to new phenomena – objects, relations, experiences, practices, etc - integrating the new object into existing worldviews and to turn something abstract into something almost concrete. In this way, the threat that the strange and unfamiliar object poses is erased. Social representations are constantly converted into a social reality while continuously re-interpreted, re-thought, re-presented. Commonly, this theoretical approach investigates how scientific theories circulate within common sense, and what happens to these theories when they are elaborated upon by a lay public.17. Instead, I would like to focus on how the process of construction of social representations is based on a double relation that extends from the “scientific” universe to that of the “common man” and vice-versa. In my opinion, social representations are the product of the circular interaction of different levels—those of scientists, policy-makers, and economists—as long as media and common men interact consistently and produce shared historical, cultural and geographical concepts. In previous works and articles, according to the analysis of scientific literature and of the daily press, I demonstrated the existence of two adversarial collective elaborations of the Mediterranean reality that dominate the European communities hindering common communication and collaborative behaviors and limiting the efficacy of the integration policy proposed by the EU. Because of this double representation, the possibilities of creating an efficient and effective division of labor, precondition of a market society, are reduced. The first representation18 sees the Mediterranean as the backdrop for a “clash of civilizations”, the new wall of the twenty-first century, thanks to which the people’s identity is re-defined against common enemies. The Orient, in this case, appears obscure, distant, and opposite. The only possibility of interaction emerges in colonization, intended to create a “New World” based on market and liberal democracy. From a political point of view, in the USA this representation motivated an aggressive foreign policy at the beginning of the new century, while in Europe it translates into the idea of building up Europe as a fortress for its citizens. The European Member states, in fact, are bearers of a

and, to a lesser extent, in services; a decrease in wage rates associated with increased unemployment; a significant loss in government revenues in some countries, with a potential for social consequences through reduced expenditure on health, education and social support programs; greater fluctuations in world market prices for basic foods; adverse effects on status, living standards and health of rural women as associated with accelerated conversion from traditional to commercial agriculture. In the opinion of the SIA-EMFTA Consortium, many of these potential impacts would occur primarily in the short or medium term, although this may be as long as ten to fifteen years over the full period of adjustment. SIA-EMFTA consortium, 2007, p. viii. At the same time and from the point of view of the European Member States, especially the Mediterranean ones, it has progressively become clearer that the overall economic gains derived from the EMFTA could be accompanied by potentially adverse social effects arising from agricultural liberalization. The adverse effects would be restricted to local areas of EU Mediterranean countries (Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Southern France, and probably also Cyprus and Malta). This would be the reason why these countries do not invest sufficiently in the Euro-Mediterranean project. SIA-EMFTA consortium, 2007, p. 17-32. The same idea is shared by Beretta, Parisi, & Zoboli (Eds), 2004. 17 The theory postulated two universes: the reified universe of science, which operates according to scientific rules and procedures and gives rise to

scientific knowledge, and the consensual universe of social representation, in which the lay public elaborates and circulates forms of knowledge which come to constitute the content of common sense. Galli, 2001,p.10 18 For a deeper explanation of the characteristics and the origins of two social representations and of the way in which they hinder the creation of an efficient competitive Euro-Mediterranean market, see Cascinelli, P.2010.

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specific national need: the protection of the welfare state, production, markets, urban spaces and national customs from the “other”.19 The second social representation that dominates the scientific literature and the daily media looks to the Mediterranean as the place where it is possible to realize the Kantian dreams of a “perpetual peace” between free republics, built on the natural human desire for peace and material well being. The Mediterranean region is viewed as a place of prosperity, a laboratory of pacific cohabitation for individuals who subscribe to different cultural messages. Moreover, cultural differences existing in the region will progressively disappear in tandem with the realization of a unique Mediterranean society. In this perspective, the free market assumes the role of bearer of rights and democracy and, then, of bearer of the encounter of the civilizations. It is believed that as successful as the social and economic EU model based on the economic integration was in promoting the integration of European countries with a long history of wars and conflicts, so will the same model be suitable as applied to Western-Islamic relations. From this perspective, the European Union becomes the “civil power” with the international role of bringing to Islamic society the knowledge of the advantages of free market and liberal democracy.20

Testing the hypothesis: the interviews The central hypothesis that I would like to discuss is that the described social representations are important for

explaining the behavior of who elaborates the Euro-Mediterranean policy and who receives it and for understanding if

and why this policy is effective. I would like also to demonstrate how these representations are part of the interpretative

lens of the entire society, in a spiral relations in which heuristic approximations are used by both the scientific

community and the lay public.

To this scope I interviewed policy makers, entrepreneurs, journalists and employers in firms associations and research

centers asking them to describe their perceptions of the Mediterranean relations. I wanted them to express not only

their personal opinions, but also to tell me which of two adversarial social representations (the clash and the encounter

of civilizations) they believe our society is inclined to. I ask them to become observers and evaluate the general

tendencies of our society.

I selected the interviewees in Lazio region, in the center of Italy, because part of my attempt was also to understand the

role that, in the opinion of the interviewees, local authorities have to play in promoting Euro-Mediterranean relations

given that in the reform of Italian administrative system the regional governments (NUTS 2, in EU term) have acquired

a relevant role.

The twenty interviewed persons are distributed as following: three policy makers involved in defining the political

economy of the Lazio Region, three journalists, five entrepreneurs with an expertise in foreign investments, three

managers of Lazio Region in charge of economic development and economic cooperation, two employees of firm

associations, two employees of a research center on International relations, two professors of social sciences of two

local universities. It was not necessary that the interviewees had previous experiences in economic cooperation with

the MPCs. I entered in contact with them thanks to my work in the Lazio Commission for Economic Development. It has

to be said that the Commission itself is an elective, left oriented, body. I meet them individually, for, in average, 40

minutes, inside the regional commission.

The questionnaire has an open structure and it is focused on the following questions: the perceptions of the Euro-

Mediterranean relations and if this perception has evolved during the last ten years, also after the Arab Spring; his/her

experiences of work/study in one of the MPCs; if, in case of previous experience with MPCs, he/she perceived a different

business culture, he/she notices a climate of reciprocal trust, if having to do with local institutions is more or less difficult

than in Italy, if the EU had a role in his/her relations to the Med; If he/she knows about the EU programs dedicated to

the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and if he/she utilized them; what is the main obstacles to the realization of an

economic integration; what is the main opportunity to be exploited in the area; what is the role of the national state;

what is the role on the regional authority.

19 The idea of the diffusion in USA and, more generaly, in the western world of a sense of a insecurity also caused by the liberalization of the markets can be found in the folliwing texts: Hungtington, 2000 [1996]; Sangalli, 2009; Walerstein, 2004; Wallerstein, 2004; Ratier, 2005; Battista, 2009, Caldwel, C. (2009). 20 The progressive “encounter of civilizations” is theorized in many different search fields, both at the international level and at the local level of analysis. From an international point of view, the following texts fall clearly within this representation: Courbage & Todd, 2009 [2007]; Matvejevic, 1998(2008); Guarracino, 2007; Bono, 2008. A particularly interesting founding is that most of the scientific literature on the topic of the development of South Italy also falls within this representation. This literature, in fact, sees the realization of the economic integration of the Mediterranean Sea as an opportunity for the Southern Europe, which could gain a new cultural and economic centrality. This is particularly clear in the following texts: Bono, 2008; Giustino, 2008.

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Commenting the results, it is useful to classify the interviewees in two categories on the base of the similarities of their

answers.

The first group is composed by the entrepreneurs, the firm associations and the research center’s employees. All of

them reveled that they are aware of the instruments proposed by EU to promote EU-Med cooperation, but they never

utilized them because of the need of a wide institutional partnership that sponsors the project and because of the longer

administrative times that do not fit with the entrepreneurial needs. Only one of the three entrepreneurs has relations

with Med countries. Both the firm associations have members with important interests in the Med. When asked about

their perceptions of the Euro-Med relations, all of them preferred to start discussing the relations between Italy and the

Mediterranean area. This is because in their opinion the main relation is between Italy and these countries, while Europe

does not have a common identity and a common external image. They believe the relations with MPCs is today

completely pair as the situation in these countries changed a lot and there was a general advancement in the quality of

the ruling class, today composed by new and young managers, often trained in Europe or USA, and in the capacity of

selecting the partners on a level playing field and using non-discriminatory treatment. 21 They believe these

advancements were a direct consequence of the EU investments in the area. They believe in the potentiality of an

economic liberalization between the two rims that, in their opinion, was strongly limited by the recent economic crises,

by the absence of a coherent EU foreign policy and by the political instability of the area.

Their perceptions of the MPCs are based on the experiences that they had in the past. Turkey is considered an excellent

partner, in a way even more efficient than Italy. The firm association employees affirmed that the firms fear less Turkey

than China. The North Africa is less efficient, and still characterized by slow rhythms of work. One interviewee22, for

example, said that in Algeria and Egypt the space for private initiatives is still minimal and the state and military

apparatus are still more important. The intermediate bodies are still very liked to politics. Notwithstanding this, the

partners are reliable and there are no big differences in business culture. Also, from the point of view of the state

administration, they notice big advancements, even if the countries remain highly bureaucratized. While before there

were only men in public offices, today there are more women than men, also in important positions. That means,

according to the interviewees, a big change in culture in these countries.

The two entrepreneurs that did not invest in Mediterranean relations, preferred to invest in Romania, exploiting the

advantages of the Eastern European countries. The firm associations’ employees told that the majority of their

members, if decide to go abroad, prefer to look at this part of the world. I asked them if, in their opinion, some cultural

factors limit the propensity to invest in the Med and if, on the contrary, the Eastern European countries look closer from

a cultural point of view, favoring higher investments there. They said that the decision of going in East Europe was not

motivate by a cultural similarity, nor by higher local incentives to investments, but it depends on the industry in which

a firm is specialized, its main final market, logistical issues and if their production has a low or high added value.23

All the interviewees shared the idea that Italy should do more and better to increase the Italian culture knowledge

around the world, as it is one of the main competitive advantages of Italian production. They share also the idea that

Europe does not have a common foreign policy and that each member country goes autonomously. The same happened

toward the Mediterranean area. As per the role of the Lazio region, they believe the regional authority should only

inform and train the entrepreneurs and favor institutional connections24, not having a direct role in doing economic

cooperation.

The representation shared by this group of interviewees is the encounter of civilizations. They believe we are all going

toward the same direction, and the MPCs have just to work harder to recover the distance with the modernity. They

see the future of Euro-Med relations as based on shared market society and on the EU model. The Mediterranean

21 “These are markets where you do not go and sell any kind of production, as it was in the past when in Saudi Arabia you sold a medium level for a price of first choice with any problem, when the Italian firms were playing on the ignorance of rich man of these places. Today they check the quality, they choose attentively, you can no longer impose your price”. Interviewee n. 1 –April 2014. 22 Interviewee n.19 – April 2014 23 In their opinion, the clothes and agro-food industries would be sectors in which would be efficient to create an integrate production in the med region, setting the low cost production of an intermediate phase in MPCs, and then working the final part in Italy. 24 “The regional institution has more directed interest in promoting local enterprises and will be more easily available than the national authorities to be involved in the promotion of enterprises of small dimensions”. Interviewee n. 3 – April 2014.

8

unique culture, according to the interviewees of this group, is a category used in different congresses, a fundamental

cart played as a guarantee of the success of the economic interactions between Med firms.25

It has to be said that the two researchers do not share the last idea with the rest of the group. For them, the

representation of the clash is the more valid one. The representation of the encounter is what it should be. Also, they

consider the Arab Spring as a missed opportunity and a prove of the fact that the MPCs have still many problems to be

solved.

The second identified group is composed by the journalists, the professors, the regional state managers and policy

makers. These persons had never had the chance to work closely with MPCs, while they had many experiences of

interaction with European Countries and EU.

In this case the perception of the relations between Europe and Med countries is less positive. They see these relations

as “ambivalent”, “complex”, characterized by the absence of reciprocity and by a reciprocal mistrust.26 Even if they

know that the EU dedicates a specific program to EU-Med relations and even if they recognize the economic potential

of the integration of the area, they believe the most diffused perception of the EU-Med relations sees the MPCs as

competitors and consider a further liberalization of the reciprocal markets as a further worsening of the economic and

social crises. 27 Immigration plays a big role in increasing the perception of division between the two rims. 28 The

impression is that there are some groups that try to go on and deepen the integration but this attitude do not became

a real capacity to build the bridges between the two rims at the level of the entire society. There is a difficulty in

accepting the integration because of the internal economic and social crises of the Euro-Mediteranean countries, this

increases what it is called the war of the poor and create a limit to the potentialities of the integration. The religious

difference represents a further element of distance, even if they all said that MPCs are more similar to the South of Italy

than to the Northern European countries, so Italy can understand better their practices and their “less modern” needs.29

Turkey is an exception for all the interviewees of this group. They believe this country is advancing and we should allow

it to enter in Europe.

In their opinion, the Southern European countries (Italy, Greece, France, Spain), after the recent big crises, do not have

the political will and the financial resources to invest in the region. The cooperation with the Med is not perceived as a

strategy that can solve some problems, both economically and politically (i.e. limiting immigration). That is why in their

opinion the role of Italy is fundamental, but more important is the role of Europe30. One of the interviewee, a policy

maker, affirmed: “Europe has to find a new strategic position in the world economy. Until when this will not happen, all

the countries in the world will represent and will be perceived as competitors and not opportunities. The same think

happens in the case of Med. It is perceived as a threat because of immigration and because of the risk of delocalization.

If what we want to be is not clear to Europe and to its citizens, and then if it is not clear which strategy of economic and

social growth we want to undertake, everything will be perceived as a threat”.31

Really interesting is the fact that all these interviewees share the opinion that the Lazio Region should not take care of

the Euro-Mediterranean relations. In their opinion, the regional administration already have a big deal in organizing and

managing their territories, a complex task that the ruling classes were not able to complete yet. Giving them also the

task of favoring Mediterranean relations would mean to overlap functions and losing the opportunity to work properly.

“We already have the national diplomacy and we are already making a big effort in try to have a single voice” said one

25 “This Mediterranean uniqueness is found on the fact that in all the Med countries the productive system is mainly based on SMEs and family business. These similarities would make easier for the Mediterranean enterprises of both rims to cooperate.” Interviewee n. 17 –April 2014. 26 “An example would be the olive oil. We consider, without real reasons, the olive oil coming from the south Mediterranean of a less quality. The

refusal is instinctive. We keep affirming that we are one but at the end we are really worried not to be contaminated too much”. Interviewee n. 5 –

April 2014. 27 “We fear that a further opening would bring their products here, competing with ours, while their markets are not attractive for our production… So we should first make them richer markets for our products and then opening further our frontiers.” Interviewee n. 6 – April 2014. 28 “We fear that a further liberalization would be dangerous because would introduce further immigration. Immigration is a real problem not only a fantasy. The wave will arrive if we do not find a solution.” Interviewee n. 6 – April 2014. 29 In MPCs “there are the same problems we have in the South of Italy: corruption, importance of the personal relations, scarce fiscal system, not efficient bureaucracy” Interviewee n. 7 – April 2014 30 “It is not possible to consider Italy without Europe”. Interviewee n. 7 – April 2014 31 Interviewee n. 8 – April 2014

9

of the interviewee32. In their opinion, the regional voices should weight more in Europe, given the competences that

these authorities have about the specific needs of their context.

On the question about representations, this group shares the idea that a progressive encounter of civilizations is only a

declaration used almost daily by policy makers and media. It represents what it should be but not the reality and they

do not see enough efforts to work in this direction. In their opinion, the representation of the clash is the reality,

especially because of the absence of a strong European identity. The Mediterranean is perceived as an area of crises.33

The political and economic instability of the Med countries, especially after the Arab Spring, increases the perception of

difficulties in the dialogue.34

In this group, one of the regional managers has different ideas. He had the chance to work for a pair of years into the

European Commission. This gave him a broader understanding of the European Union policies and he firmly believes

that the process of integration is just delayed, not stopped. The direction to be undertaken is exactly the one described

by EU. In his present job he is in charge of promoting the economic cooperation between the Lazio region and MPCs

utilizing EU financial resources. He believes the regions have to be protagonist of this process because the regions have

the knowhow, the expertise thanks to the regional enterprises. He believes that the EU policies of structural adjustments

obtained their main goal in the MPCs: to help a medium class to grow. Now it is the time to help the territories to

cooperate. The MPCs are, he believes, as we were on the ‘70s. We can help them to arrive at our level sharing our

practices. They are at a previous phase. “With our help they can be able to enter into the modernity” he said. For him,

the representation of the encounter is closer to reality, except for the fact that the market economy creates polarization,

also geographical, of the development, as happened in Europe, and that policies of redistribution of resources are

needed in order to guarantee prosperity to all the area and all the individuals.

Conclusions My hypotheses are partially confirmed. What seems to be part of a common representations of the Mediterranean reality is that the EU policies in the MPCs promoted the changes for the development of new and market based economic relations. Also the two groups share the idea that development is like a mountain to be climbed and the Western/European model represents the pick of it. The MPCs are some steps above us and their destiny is to reach, sooner or later, the European model. The entrepreneurs are bearer of the representation of the encounter, but in a softer version. They had the chance to work in MPCs or to have strong contacts with these countries and their representations were modified according to the reality they saw there. Indeed, once they take the decision to go abroad, the adversarial representations prevalent in their society do not play a big role in orientate the destination choices. They see the Mediterranean region to have a strong potential for economic integration, even if only in specific industries, confirming the validity of the EU policy. It is also clear that for them it is not easy to deal with the complexity of the EU instruments to promote cooperation. My hypotheses are better confirmed in the second group, where it is evident how policy makers are strongly influenced by social representations that are shared also by the lay public. Indeed, the clash of civilization representation is still really spread in the mind of the local political authorities and media and they are not aware of the changes in MPCs of the last years. The ruling class of the Region does not perceive the importance of the Mediterranean. They do not see the Euro-Med relations as a priority, as something that can represent a turning point of the regional political economy, notwithstanding what it is affirmed in the public discourse. This is particularly interesting if we consider the strong role given to the Regions by the EU in the promotion of the Euro-Med cooperation. The EU seems not to take in consideration the little propensity of the policy makers toward the Med. The only regional manager that perceives the fundamental role that the Mediterranean can play is the one that worked for a period in the EU Commission, where he developed a strong “encounter” representations. Because of this, he has limited capacity to notice the negative climate that exists among the Lazio policy makers toward Mediterranean.

32 Interviewee n. 14 – April 2014. “In Italy, the process of decentralization of the last years was not accompanied by an effective reorganization of

the state machine. This creates a situation of incapacity to be able to maintain and carry out the role that was given to the regions in the last reforms. This means that at the moment it seems really difficult to imagine that the relations with the Med countries can be realized by the regional entities. There is an overlapping of functions between different authorities, and this is the real Italian problem of the last twenty years”. Interviewee n. 8 – April 2014. “The state should give a unique direction to the cooperation and should control the efficiency of the projects and the sharing of the best practices. The supervision of the state is fundamental. The regions’ action should be placed inside a unique state strategy, otherwise the risk of dispersing financial resources is high”. Interviewee n. 10 – April 2014. 33 “There is a strong tendency to colonize the other, a colonization that is more commercial from the European side and more religious/cultural from

the Islamic countries. We are stronger, and they remain receivers of something”. Interviewee n. 9 – April 2014. 34 “In the Arab Spring the expectations of young people played against the development. The distance between the expectation and the reality has being so big to crash in the Arab Spring and the Muslim brothers took advantages of this situation”. Interviewee n. 14 – April 2014

10

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