The refugee deal of 2015, followed by the opening up of a negotiation chapter, has revitalised the relations between Turkey and the EU; however, there are crucial points to bear in mind for future relations to be sustained.
Located in a difficult zone of conflict and power struggles between multiple players, Turkey is experiencing some hard times. Difficulties regarding its foreign policy are currently coupled with turmoil in its domestic politics, rising conflict and threats against democracy.
Algeria has approved a budget for 2016 at the limit of the politically feasible after a tumultuous parliamentary session.
Turkey and the EU struck a bargain under which the country whose European Union accession process has virtually ground to a halt will stem migrant flows to Europe in return for €3 billion in aid, fast-tracked visa privileges and the prospect of revived EU talks.
While Libya has seen an extraordinary rise in terrorist violence, particularly since 2012, the frequency of attacks has been contained in Algeria since 2013, the year when terrorism started to grow considerably in Tunisia. Morocco has been notorious for an absence of attacks since 2011.
In Israel’s current political climate, instead of an ideological split between the ‘right’ and ‘left’, the main ideological gaps today are between two types of parties that are willing to sit in on any coalition, either with Likud or Labour or both.
The recent mediterranean refugee crisis has shown one the main gaps in European common policy to be filled.
In this new Middle East cold war context, the sectarianism has become a powerful political weapon used not only in Bahrain but also in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
What has been confirmed by the four years of convulsive transitions in the Maghreb and the Middle East is that, for the time being, the ‘Arab economic and geopolitical exception’ remains in place.
The aim of the slaughter in the Bardo Museum is threefold: to try to derail the promising democratic transition; to torpedo the economy by hitting the all-important tourism industry; and to drag Tunisia into a scenario of Jihadism that generates chaos.
The political transition in Yemen has entered a critical stage after the Houthi movement’s take-over of Sana’a and President Hadi’s flight to Aden. The polarisation of the political forces reflects the growing tensions in the region and could end in an open military conflict.
Following Benjamin Netanyahu's electoral victory, the idea of Palestine as a state does indeed look unlikely.