Since 2004, the European Union (EU) policy towards the Eastern neighbourhood countries has been dominated by the European Commission through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). (Gänzle, 2008, 6)
Article 8 of the Treaty of Lisbon (TFEU) confers a constitutional status on the EU’s relationship with its neighbours. This article aims to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness and encourage the EU to take all the necessary legal measures to achieve this aim. Therefore, Article 8 provides a specific legal basis for the EU to conclude legal agreements with its Eastern neighbours. Despite this, the abovementioned legal basis does not explicitly provide special procedures on implementing these legal agreements.
The ENP itself is based on the fundamental legal principles and values of the democracy, on the rule of law and the respect of human rights. Its main aim is to ensure peace, security and stability in the region and strengthen the bilateral relations between the EU and its Eastern neighbourhood through the legal implementation of action plans.
The purpose of these action plans is to outline the legal strategies to achieve a successful economic and political reform for the Eastern countries, which would result in greater access to the EU internal market and an increase of their participation in the relevant EU programmes. The legal implementation of these action plans is subject to regular monitoring conducted by the EU Commission and the partner country itself. (Huff, 2011, 11)
The key principles of the ENP are the differentiation and the ownership. The first refers to the different aspirations of the partner countries on the further development of the bilateral relations with the EU. At the same time, the latter consists of the establishment of common partnership priorities by both organisations.
The ENP objectives should result in good governance, a stable society with maximal respect for human rights, economic and social development, and deeper cooperation in the security sector. The first important legal revision of the ENP since its establishment was realised in 2011, following the “Arab Spring” uprisings. However, considering the significant further developments in the Eastern neighbourhood since 2011, another legal revision of the policy was realised in November 2015 to achieve a higher degree of stabilisation in the region.
On 18 March 2020, the Joint Communication on the “Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020- Reinforcing Resilience-an Eastern Partnership that delivers for all”, was adopted to outline the long-term policy objectives for future cooperation with the Eastern neighbours.
The funding of the ENP was realised by the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI), with an allocation of €15.4 billion between 2014 and 2020.
Moreover, on 14 June 2018, the European Commission proposed the “Regulation on Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI-Global Europe), which was adopted on 11 June 2021. This instrument forms the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and covers the Eastern neighbourhood region, with an allocated budget of €79.462 billion.
Meanwhile, it is key to emphasise that, starting from 2009, the EU policy toward the Eastern region has been dominated by the Eastern Partnership (EaP), which was launched as a joint policy initiative. It revised the ENP, calling on the need to increase the prosperity and stabilisation in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood.
The EaP’s main aim is to guide and strengthen the bilateral relations between the EU and its six Eastern neighbours, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The main priorities of the abovementioned policy consist of stronger governance, stronger connectivity, stronger economy and stronger society.
The current legal framework of the EaP consists of relevant bilateral agreements, such as the association agreements and agendas, the specific partnership priorities and the EaP 20 Deliverables for 2020. Within this framework, all partners have committed to ensure benefits to the daily lives of citizens across the region.
The EaP has ensured more trade and investment opportunities between the EU and the six Eastern countries, more diversified economies and more accessible and efficient public services for the citizens across the region. Furthermore, it created more awareness of the EU among citizens across the Eastern countries and visa free regimes between the EU and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
Finally, on 2 July 2021, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the EU Commission outlined a proposal with the main key priorities for a future five-year cooperation with the Eastern countries, which will also contribute to the further discussions on the EaP policy such as the EaP summit planned for December 2021.
Written by Jorida Vela
Bibliography
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Gänzle Stefan “Externalizing EU Governance and the European Neighbourhood Policy: Towards a Framework for Analysis”. (2008):6 [Accessed: 4 September 2021].
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https://www.iss.europa.eu/sites/default/files/EUISSFiles/op91The_role_of_EU_defence_policy_in_the_Eastern_neighbourhood_0.pdf[Accessed: 4 September 2021].
