ABSTRACT
The eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU) was considered as a key
success story of the Union’s soft power approach dealing with the challenges of
the end of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the big-bang enlargement in 2004, the
EU faces the task of presenting itself as a foreign policy actor towards the new
Neighbourhood (Lynch 2004). With the strengthened claim that it has developed
a unique capacity to promote the internal transformation of states as a civilian
force, the EU’s new policy is presented as expanding the zone of prosperity,
stability and security beyond its borders (Ferrero-Waldner 2006, 139).
