Culture in Mediterranean Countries
1. SIMILARITIES OF CULTURE IN MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES
This shift in mutual perceptions is backed up by a series of objective findings and generally accepted analyses which all challenge the fear of the Mediterranean partnersthat "intensive labor production will be shifted from the current EU Member States tothe new members, and no longer to the Mediterranean partner countries, in order tobenefit from salary differentials". The first of these findings is that, in trade relations, themost worrying challenge that the Mediterranean countries will face will come essentiallyfrom the liberalization of multilateral trade, which will further increase competitivepressure and the erosion of preferential access to the European market. The secondfinding, on foreign investment flows, shows that the Mediterranean's real competitors arenot the new Member States but Latin America and, beyond that and in the long term,China, India and most other Asian countries.For these reasons, therefore, and not just because of the increasingly rapid ageing of thepopulation of the enlarged EU or the demographic differential with the southernMediterranean, Europe will continue both to be an attractive destination for would-beimmigrants, and to call on the migration potential of its neighbors itself. In terms ofmigration, enlargement of the Union does not necessarily mean that there will be large"internal" migratory movements from East to West.
It may be that the new MemberStates, where the population is ageing more rapidly as a result of sometimes-negative demographic growth rates, will in turn become host countries for migrants from thesouthern Mediterranean. The conjunction of these future migratory flows and the entry ofnew nations into the EU is a multidimensional issue with many social, demographic andeconomic - and above all cultural - implications. EU enlargement can and must set anexample of building on cultural affinities to extend to – or rather to share with – theMediterranean region
This shift in mutual perceptions is backed up by a series of objective findings and generally accepted analyses which all challenge the fear of the Mediterranean partnersthat "intensive labor production will be shifted from the current EU Member States tothe new members, and no longer to the Mediterranean partner countries, in order tobenefit from salary differentials". The first of these findings is that, in trade relations, themost worrying challenge that the Mediterranean countries will face will come essentiallyfrom the liberalization of multilateral trade, which will further increase competitivepressure and the erosion of preferential access to the European market. The secondfinding, on foreign investment flows, shows that the Mediterranean's real competitors arenot the new Member States but Latin America and, beyond that and in the long term,China, India and most other Asian countries.For these reasons, therefore, and not just because of the increasingly rapid ageing of thepopulation of the enlarged EU or the demographic differential with the southernMediterranean, Europe will continue both to be an attractive destination for would-beimmigrants, and to call on the migration potential of its neighbors itself. In terms ofmigration, enlargement of the Union does not necessarily mean that there will be large"internal" migratory movements from East to West.
It may be that the new MemberStates, where the population is ageing more rapidly as a result of sometimes-negative demographic growth rates, will in turn become host countries for migrants from thesouthern Mediterranean. The conjunction of these future migratory flows and the entry ofnew nations into the EU is a multidimensional issue with many social, demographic andeconomic - and above all cultural - implications. EU enlargement can and must set anexample of building on cultural affinities to extend to – or rather to share with – theMediterranean region