The European neighborhood policy: towards more cooperation or just a mehter step?

Abstract

When the Eastern Enlargement took place in 2004, the EU Member States were aware that the enlargement would ultimately change the shape of the EU's political and economic relations with other parts of the world because it brought up the borders of the union to a new geography that introduced new security problems and other issues like identity and culture. In order to develop a lasting solution to the enlargement fatigue that the Union found itself in and to avoid the emergence of new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and its neighbors as well as to strengthen the security, stability and prosperity in the region, the EU first with Wider Europe in 2003 and then with Strategy Paper in 2004 introduced the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The policy is then enriched with different initiatives such as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership launched in Paris in 2008, the Black Sea Synergy launched in Kiev in 2008 and the Eastern Partnership launched in Prague in 2009. However, the Neighborhood policy that was created with big ambitions faced serious problems concerning its implementation and its structure due to the diverging aims and preferences of the member states over different initiatives as well as varying levels of attachment of the partners due to the lack of incentives. The ENP was insufficient to bring the necessary reforms and to prepare the effective harmonization agenda to its partners. It rather remained as a paper action and a wishful thinking.