ABSTRACT
A quick glance at the current events that mark international relations grants the picture that it is in the areas surrounding the European Union that many of today’s pressing security issues are played out. Examples such as the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia and the deteriorating and violent situation in the Middle East are obvious cases in point, but we could also refer to energy politics in south-eastern Europe and elsewhere as well as migration and terrorism issues related to North Africa. All these events and topics impact importantly on the European Union and its member-states; at the same time, these issues are affected – albeit to different degrees and in different ways – by EU behaviour. Against such a background, there is an obvious need for systematic study of relations between the EU and states in its immediate vicinity. Utilizing the theoretical language spelled out in the previous chapter, the analyses conducted in this and following chapters rest on the assumption that it is fruitful to talk about a European regional security complex, in which the EU is the assumed great power. Importantly, this in effect means that the European complex is not synonymous with the formal membership of the European Union, but a larger entity encompassing also states that have voluntarily opted for nonmembership and, perhaps more importantly in the context of this analysis, states that are seeking membership and are recognized by the EU as potential members; i.e. countries that have been granted formal candidate status. This means for instance that Turkey and the countries of the Western Balkans are to be considered as part of the EU-led security complex, although their formal membership may be a possibility for the distant future. While it certainly would be fruitful to study the enlargement process from an interface perspective, the process itself and the countries included in it fall outside of this analysis – these countries are no longer part of the neighbourhood; instead, they are part of the complex per se. Rather, the neighbourhood consists of countries that are intensely interdependent with the EU, but are simultaneously part of a different complex. This chapter is divided into four main parts. The first section describes the institutional framework for neighbourhood interaction, focusing primarily on the
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The second section deals with EU selfimage as the motor and guarantor of European security and prosperity. The following section focuses on general EU perceptions of the neighbourhood. The final substantial part of the chapter brings up the issue of potential EU power resources in the context of interaction.
