EU presses neighbors for change in return for aid

Differentiation the key to ENP

“The closer you want to be to the EU, and the greater your commitment to reform, the more we will offer you in terms of both assistance to reach those goals, and opportunities to expand and deepen our relations,” European Commission President José Manuel Barroso told the European Neighbourhood Policy Conference in Brussels on Monday, 3 September.

President Barroso explained that “The fundamental principle of ENP is differentiation. The ENP is not, and never has been, a one-size-fits-all policy. There are as many variations of ENP as there are partners. We cannot and do not wish to ignore the differences between our partners.”

Acknowledging that “some have questioned the logic behind the ENP, questioned whether countries with such different societies, histories and traditions should, or even can, be brought together in one policy approach,” he insisted that “by focusing attention on the wider European and Mediterranean area, the ENP has leveraged more support from the EU’s Member States than when we looked at each of our neighbours in isolation…The ENP has spurred the Member States to think harder about the future of the whole of this corner of our planet, and the need to address our common challenges now. This has resulted in more money for ENP assistance programmes, and new opportunities for closer cooperation with the EU.”

"He also stressed that “the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is as important as ever – the cornerstone of our regional dialogue between the EU and our Mediterranean partners.”

Brussels

The European Union was to meet Monday with representatives of 15 neighboring countries and the Palestinian Authority to generate more momentum for a €12 billion program of economic and other aid in exchange for EU-supported changes, a strategy that has been a tough sell from the day it was started in 2004. The EU European Neighborhood Program offers neighbors cash, expertise and easy access to EU markets in return for commitment to change.

The "ring of friends" program is hobbled by the wide variety of participants - from Ukraine to the Palestinian Authority - and by the Union's insistence that they tackle issues like migration, terrorism or human rights. The European public's dim view of the state of democracy beyond EU borders has also undercut the program.

The EU's neighborhood outreach is little loved by some - notably Ukraine, which aspires to full membership - and little appreciated in Western Europe.

Last week, the EU made public the results of a public opinion survey showing that 54 percent of EU nationals had little or no interest in neighboring countries. The vast majority of respondents, however, said that cooperation in environment, energy, economic development, migration and the fights against organized crime and terrorism was important.

The neighborhood program was begun in 2004 to offer easy access to the vast EU market of almost 500 million without membership in the bloc. While most neighbors have made progress in economic and political changes, other areas remain problematic, including poverty, corruption, unemployment and mixed economic performance.

IHT