ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the EU's relationship with the Central Asian region has developed since its inception in the early 1990s to the present day. It determines the extent to which the goals, methods and thinking behind the EU's strategy towards Central Asia are linked to the European neighbourhood policy (ENP). In 2007 a Strategy was published, which had seven priorities and one overarching goal: the EU wanted to promote stability in a region that had, all of a sudden, come to neighbour its neighbours. In 2012 the EU undertook an internal assessment of both past and future engagement, and it will be interesting to examine how its approach to the Eastern Partners affects the Union's relations with the Central Asian republics. As security concerns come to the fore, the EU may have to rethink its cooperation with Russia and China, in support of a mutually beneficial and balanced approach to the security question.
