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For more than a decade, the European Union (EU) has been pursuing its European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) in response to the many political and socio-economic challenges, crises and conflicts that afflict the Maghreb and Mashreq and thus what the EU considers to be its 'southern neighborhood'. The recent review of the ENP, the second within four years, raises fundamental questions with regard to the applicability, appropriateness and sustainability of EU foreign policy initiatives, but also with respect to the EUs ability to adjust to ever evolving developments within as well as beyond its borders. Moreover, it has reminded both policy makers and academics of a paradox: Though the ENP is the EUs most ambitious and sophisticated foreign policy initiative and is rooted in the support of both the EUs 28 member states and the countries it is supposed to address, it has generated rather limited results. How can this be explained? What are the endogenous and exogenous reasons that capture what many observers even consider to be an outright policy failure? Picking up on the concept of 'neighborhood' that is at the core of the ENP, in his talk, Tobias Schumacher will examine the contents, goals and politics of the ENP - original and revised - and address issues related to coherence and consistency. These will be linked to the debate on (the limits of) EU external governance beyond enlargement and thus the role of conditionality, differentiation and ownership in EU foreign policy vis-à-vis the EU's 'southern neighborhood'.
Tobias Schumacher Chairholder of the European Neighborhood Policy Chair, College of Europe, Warsaw, Poland
Sponsors: Eastern Mediterranean and Europe Study Group
Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Elizabeth.Prodromou@tufts.edu