The uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa require a response from the EU which encompasses a genuine shift in its approach to its Mediterranean neighbourhood. Without entirely discarding the institutional foundations of previous policy mechanisms, the EU is helping to forge a new policy matrix. Steps taken so far have been cautious, and rightly so. Caution is imperative, especially in a region where anything resembling overt support is deemed foreign meddling. The EU must show faith in the normative values it has sought to embody and promote from its inception. Recognizing that its support for autocrats and their ostensibly stable regime has tainted its image, the EU is now in the process of determining its role in a continually changing region.