In this article the authors investigate the approaches to the formation of regional economic cooperation between the EU and the countries of North Africa, as well as ways of their implementation which are carried out through various instruments of EU foreign policy. The research contains problems and challenges facing the European Union, therefore it is justified that the EU needs diversification of not only trade and investment cooperation, but also of import supplies of hydrocarbons, in which the countries of North Africa play an important role. Based on the analysis of existing difficulties and contradictions in bilateral regional cooperation between the EU and North Africa within the framework of the neo-colonialism policy, the authors of this article put forward and proved the hypothesis that trade relations between the EU and the countries of North Africa for the period 2002-2022 were significantly influenced by the following factors: migration processes, the level of economic development and the amount of government debt. In conclusion of the study, the authors highlighted that the contradictions of the EU in relations with North African countries are increasing, thus Brussels' policy will undergo significant changes on the continent in the middle-term period. The last statement is based on the fact that the territory of North Africa has become an arena of competition between EU member states for control and preferential relations in this region, nevertheless geopolitical factors will be the determining vector of economic development in the nearest future. Taking into consideration the growing global and regional instability, the prospects for the development of foreign economic relations between the countries of North Africa and the European Union look extremely uncertain.