Is Morocco EU's model student at ENP? An analysis of democracy and human rights progress

Abstract

This article focuses on the evolution of the EU-Morocco relationship during the first years of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The aim is to show that Morocco has succeeded in developing a privileged relationship with the EU, taking advantage of the particular institutional characteristics of this period, especially under ENP. Considering the EU frequently stresses the importance of democracy and human rights’ progress for justifying the quality of the relationship, the research focuses on these topics. Contrarily to what EU suggests, this research found no evidence of progress in these fields. The research equally points out the EU evaluations of these elements were lenient towards the objective facts that do not show enough progress to support this type of relationship.