ABSTRACT
A Secure Neighbourhood The first level at which the Strategy as a framework for a comprehensive approach to EU external action can be put into practice is that of the EU’s neighbourhood. ‘Building security in our neighbourhood’ has in fact been an objective actively pursued by the EU, since the fall of the Berlin Wall as far as the continent of Europe is concerned, and since at least the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) as regards its Southern periphery. It is also the focus of one of the EU’s major new projects: the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Focussing on the Mediterranean as an illustrative case-study, this chapter will assess the potential of the ENP as a framework for the implementation of the comprehensive approach, as well as the challenges to be addressed for the ENP to be successful. The Neighbourhood Policy ‘Even in an era of globalization, geography is still important’, the Strategy rightly points out. It is indeed the case that, while the security issues arising in the vicinity of the EU are global phenomena that are not specific to this region, their potential effects on the EU can still be greater because of geographic proximity. The EU and its neighbourhood, and certainly its neighbours on the European continent, can be considered a ‘security complex’ as defined by Buzan (1991): ‘a group of States whose primary security concerns link together sufficiently closely that their national securities cannot realistically be considered apart from one another’. It is but logical therefore that in this area the EU assumes responsibility and directly takes the lead in promoting peace and security, for a stable neighbourhood is a necessity for Europe’s own security. The actual development of the CFSP and ESDP can be seen in the light of Europe’s failure to fulfil exactly this ambition, notably on the Balkans in the early 1990s and, more recently, in Kosovo in 1999. In that sense, the inherent security dimension of the ENP also answers a longstanding call by the US for more burden-sharing, notably with regard to what Washington rightly sees as Europe’s backyard: the Balkans. Promoting stability in Europe’s neighbourhood can even be seen as a responsibility or a duty, since the EU is the only local actor with the means to do so. Through its force of attraction, the EU has succeeded in stabilizing the European continent; now it has to replicate that success in a wider neighbourhood.
