ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book reviews the EU's current models of cooperation and points at their major shortcomings before considering how they could be rendered more suitable by tying them closer to each other and embedding them in a strategy for the neighbours of the EU's neighbours. The models of cooperation in the EU's broader neighbourhood appear to be looser from West to East, reflecting historically grown relationships: while in Africa multilateralism and inter-regionalism prevail, cooperation in the Middle East is characterized by inter-regionalism and bilateralism and in Central Asia solely by bilateralism. Hence the chapter argued that the EU's current policy models, ranging from bilateral to inter-regional and multilateral approaches, are inadequate in terms of the interconnections between the regions and the lack of an overarching strategic framework.
