ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the European Union (EU) has sought to craft a strategic narrative of its neighbourhood, to shape its regional milieu. It outlines the challenges surrounding the EU's efforts to influence its neighbourhood through the projection of strategic narratives. Strategic narratives have become central to how policy makers seek to exert influence in international affairs. They can also provide a framework for forging shared meaning and understanding between actors. A strategic narrative on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), therefore, could serve as a framework for action for those involved in delivering the objectives of neighbourhood policy. The EU faces vigorous challenges to its foreign policy narrative that have the potential to undermine its efficacy as a foreign policy actor. The EU has faced considerable challenges in forging a collective foreign policy narrative on Ukraine. The EU's strategic narrative of ENP is a central pillar of the EU's emerging foreign policy.
