Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 22 August 2016: New geopolitical crises requirement an additional influential EU neighborhood policy

As divisions in Europe are hardening under the pressure of the large flow of refugees since WWII, experts are making the case to set the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), thus that it is quick to adapt and make the bloc resilient to rapid geopolitical changes.“We live in an age of instability. It is beginning to sink in people’s mind. We need to develop crisis-management strategies as crisis has become part of the norm,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute, and President of MPI Europe.

Experts are making the sheath that the EU must become more deeply involved in the evolutions taking place in neighboring countries to recognize signals of fundamental change early on. The situation has dramatically shifted over the last ten years since the launch of the EU neighborhood policy.

To begin with, the EU has to adjust its priorities with those of its different neighbors. The bloc has to go out from a ‘one size suits all’ approach to its region, and acquire a more individualized strategy, taking into consideration the ambitions of the countries concerned without neglecting the regional context, sounded out the experts gathered in Salzburg.
At the same time, the European Union needs to get beyond the usual trade or security-driven agenda and foster cultural exchange, and cooperation in teaching, including the exchange of faculty members, but also joint missions to overcome historical disputes.

Making an inventory of ‘good neighborhood practices’ to overcome differences and foster better bilateral relationship could become handy. That can be done also including working examples from other parts of the universe—specifically Chinese and US neighborhood policies.
The latest review did not result in more money, with €128 million per country per year until 2020. It is too early to judge if the new Migration Partnership Framework presented in June will make a divergence. At least €8 billion will be apportioned over the following five years to support third countries, but there appears to be a strong example for increased private-public partnership.
Stabilization of the neighboring countries became the key strategic priority. Security cooperation in areas of conflict prevention, border protection, terrorism, and organized crime and anti-radicalization efforts topped the new policy agenda.