| dc.description.abstract | November 2020 will mark the 25th anniversary of one of the most important
experiences of cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean,
the Barcelona Process (1995). Two and a half decades later, the perceptions
of failure and fatigue are the predominant ones. However, the geopolitical
situation of the EU and the new geopolitical impetus recognized in the
EU Global Strategy (2016) provides us with a new opportunity to bet
for reinforcing the cooperative platform within the Euro-Mediterranean
relations. It is at this point that it might be necessary to think about the
role displayed by the EU in the MENA region concerning the issue of
resilience. How can the EU foster resilience in the MENA region in
general, and in Lebanon in particular? How can the EU help Lebanon
increase its democratic resilience to fight corruption? Which factors shaped
the EU’s state-building initiatives in Lebanon? In raising these questions,
this article examines, on the one hand, the guiding principles of EU action
in the MENA region, and on the other, the role displayed by the EU in
fostering Resilience focus on the State and societal resilience in Lebanon
concerning corruption. The main argument is that the EU state-building,
as the main tool to foster resilience, was hampered by three main factors, the
presence of interests of the Major Powers, the existence of false dilemmas,
and the roles displayed by certain internal factors like the power-sharing
political mechanisms that mesmerize outsiders. As a result, the EU has only
been partially involved, losing part of its potential to influence the course
of events. | es |
