On 14 September 2015, Professor Tobias SCHUMACHER, Chairholder of the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair at the Natolin (Warsaw) campus of the College of Europe, participated in a conference organized by the European Ideas Network in collaboration with the FAES Foundation on "The importance of Mediterranean stability for democracy and regional progress" in Barcelona.
In his talk, Professor SCHUMACHER provided a critical overview of the current dynamics of material and ideational changes in the EU’s southern neighbourhood and addressed three myths that have been underpinning past and current policies of western actors towards the region.
The first myth he debunked related to the engagement of external, i.e. non-regional actors in regional security matters, whereas the second myth he addressed revolves around the alleged autocracy-stability-security nexus that has been informing and guiding western policies towards the EU’s southern neighbourhood for decades.
Finally, the third myth he identified and questioned concerned the alleged neutrality and generally held positive perception of humanitarian aid and the extent to which the latter feeds into regional (in)stability.