ABSTRACT
The European neighbourhood policy (ENP), which was officially established in 2004, aims at harmonising neighbourhood policies of member states, complementing national policies with an EU policy, and initiating a comprehensive strategy of good neighbourhood, notably towards the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. Following traditional EU policy modes and patterns, ENP combines economic incentives with political cooperation aimed at peace-building, democracy-promotion, economic transformation and development in line with the EU’s economic-political interests and normative standards. ENP aims to bridge the gap between membership and non-membership, and subscribes to the idea that the EU has a role to play not only in the far abroad but in the near abroad areas as well. ENP as a relatively recent EU policy has shown a number of structural shortcomings and raised dilemmas such as: the duality between the EU’s and its member states’ neighbourhood policies; the heterogeneity within the near abroad neighbourhood, for instance the differences between the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe; and the limits of the EU’s will when building and implementing its role as a global, pan-European and common foreign and security policy actor.
