Abstract:
The focus of this paper is to analyze the security concerns in the Mediterranean basin. Since the end of the Cold war the nature of security has changed and, in parallel the geostrategic importance of the region has increased. First, the nature and the number of threats have increased. Terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organized crime, trafficking in drugs, human beings and weapons, are all examples of the challenges that countries have to meet in this century. Second, the European Union has redefined her Mediterranean policies to cope with the new security issues.
This paper discusses the security issues in the Mediterranean area, beginning by examining the nature of the threats. Then it continues to describe the historical developments of the Mediterranean Sea in order to highlight his central and marginal role in history. Within the changing of the security issues in the post Cold War period, it is not possible to separate the European security from the Mediterranean security. It concludes by describing the policies of the European Union toward the Mediterranean and the future prospective.
