Some elements of EU assistance to the countries of MENA have become more politicized in recent years. This is largely because sharper differences of opinion have emerged over EU funds being used to limit migration and for security aims. Contestation has intensified horizontally between different EU institutions and European governments. However, this politicization varies across different policy areas and different parts of the MENA region, and in some instances remains relatively muted. After outlining the general increase in salience and wider institutional engagement; we then contrast this with the more measured increase in the third dimension of politicization, namely polarization over the EU's MENA aid policies. We offer three examples of the way that internal policy‐making dynamics have softened polarization and discuss implications for the broader analysis of EU foreign and security policy. We conclude that different kinds of dynamics both drive and limit politicization within the EU's external policies.

中文翻译：

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欧盟在中东和北非的援助政策：政治化及其局限性

近年来，欧盟向中东和北非国家提供援助的某些因素已变得更加政治化。这主要是因为人们对用于限制移民和实现安全目标的欧盟资金出现了更为尖锐的分歧。欧盟不同机构与欧洲政府之间的竞争在横向上加剧了。但是，这种政治化在不同的政策领域和中东和北非地区的不同地区之间有所不同，在某些情况下仍然相对平静。概述了显着性的普遍提高和更广泛的机构参与之后；然后，我们将这与政治化的第三维度中更为可估量的增长（即对欧盟的中东和北非地区援助政策的两极化）进行对比。我们提供了三个示例，说明内部决策动态减弱了两极分化的方式，并讨论了对欧盟外交和安全政策进行更广泛分析的含义。我们得出的结论是，各种不同的动力既推动并限制了欧盟外部政策中的政治化。