The EU and sub-regional multilateralism in Europe’s sea basins: Neighbourhood, Enlargement and Multilateral Cooperation. An FP7 collaborative research project (2009-2011) conducting an analysis of sub-regional multilateralism in the four maritime basins (Baltic, Black, Caspian and Mediterranean).
16 February 2010The European Commission has condemned Libya's decision to stop
issuing visas to the many Europeans whose countries are in the Schengen
border-free zone. The commission says it "deplores the unilateral and disproportionate"
Libyan decision and the nations affected will consider an "appropriate
reaction".
29 February 2010The EU, once a synonym for electoral success in Ukraine, has been
dropped unceremoniously from this year’s presidential election debates.
The lingering pessimism in Ukraine towards the EU has domestic as well
as EU-related explanations, but there is no doubt that the EU’s
procrastination in offering membership perspectives has discoloured
reform processes in its eastern neighbourhood.
With the creation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2004,
it has become increasingly apparent that there are now European
countries which might never be invited to join the European club. Even
if their prospects for joining are never explicitly denied, few
aspiring members have missed the subtext: if you are in the
Neighbourhood you are outside the accession fence.
In any case, no consideration can belie the immutable fact of Ukraine’s,
Moldova’s and Belarus’ actual geographic Europeanness, nor can there be
any denial of the importance of a stable Caucasus for a stable Europe.
A more meaningful EU strategy would therefore have been an
administrative amalgamation of these eastern neighbours, each of which
is part of the so-called Eastern Partnership, together with the
enlargement countries under one roof in the Commission.
Enlargement as a discourse and a policy needs to be reinvigorated both
within the EU and at a domestic level in the eastern neighbourhood,
returning it to the path it has been led away from. It should be
endowed with the broad understanding of a Wider Europe and reconciled
with the ideal that no European country can be denied a European Union
perspective. Such an enlargement policy would recognise that there is
no logic or consistency in letting Serbia in and leaving Ukraine out if
they both fulfil the criteria for accession.
There is no denial that
absorbing new members is a difficult task, however, for the EU to
renege now on one if its defining policies, the achievements made under
the rubric of conditionality and value-based relations, will dissipate
along with its credibility. Without the prospect of joining and
partaking fully in the benefits of the EU there is no incentive for
non-EU countries to reform or to consolidate their fledgling
democracies. The short-term benefits accrued by governments tightening
their grip on power will outweigh the long-term benefits of
democratising in exchange for the meagre scraps offered by European
integration. The EU will inevitably lose its leverage and in the very
long run miss the opportunities for the greater advantages of a
peaceful, stable, integrated and prosperous Europe.
Deniz Devrim
Research Fellow
CIDOB
Mary Jane O'Leary
Research Assistant
CIDOB
Deniz Devrim is reasearch fellow at CIDOB.
Her areas of expertise are EU's relations with eastern neighbours, EU-Turkey relations and transformation processes
in the Western Balkans. Formerly, she has worked as
a Policy Advisor in the European Parliament on EU external relations and
international trade, with a focus on EU enlargement, especially EU-Turkey
relations as well as European Neighbourhood Policy. Her published articles cover
the topics of EU Enlargement policies,
Turkey and European Neighbourhood Policy.
Mary Jane holds a BA in European Studies from the University College of Cork in
Ireland and is an International Relations Masters graduate from Barcelona
Institute of International Studies (IBEI). There she focused on Political
Economy of Development as well as Rational Choice Theory and Political Party
behaviour. Mary Jane also holds Diplomas in Journalism and Editing from the VTEC
Institute in Ireland together with Press Association. She
worked as a journalist in Ireland for three years focusing on world news and
national politics. Her main area of work at CIDOB concerns the EU's relations with its eastern
neighbours, the institutional functioning of the
post-Lisbon Union and the development of enlargement policies.
With the creation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2004,
it has become increasingly apparent that there are now European
countries which might never be invited to join the European club. Even
if their prospects for joining are never explicitly denied, few
aspiring members have missed the subtext: if you are in the
Neighbourhood you are outside the accession fence.
