by Sandra Fernandes, Professor at UMinho/Researcher of the CICP

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Taking a rapid glance at the EU immediate neighbourhood, both Eastward and Southward, the prospects do not look very positive. Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014 and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, both the relations with Moscow and with the countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) have not produced the desired results. The EaP was designed in 2009 to boost the 2004 European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and improve convergence with the EU standards, offering approximation without a clear enlargement schedule. On the Southern border of the Mediterranean, the unfulfilled expectations of the Arab Springs and the war in Syria have exposed the lack of effects of the Barcelona Process and have put under serious crisis the ability of the Union to respond to unprecedented migration flows. The Process launched in 1995 has been updated since then into the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed) and later, in 2008, into the Union for the Mediterranean. The ENP added to this political format from 2004 onwards.

Bulgaria has just assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the next six months, as a Southern member state having EU external borders with both the Balkans and Turkey. Taking into considerations some of this Presidency’s priorities, we explore here the major challenges that the EU external action has to face in order to impact on stabilisation in its European vicinity, looking at both the Balkan countries and the Eastern neighbours. For that purpose, we put under perspective the effectiveness of EU past and present policies and the current state-of-play in these neighbourhing countries.
Continue reading “The EU and its neighbourhood: engagement without enlargement?” →