Is Second Best Still Good Enough? The European Neighbourhood Policy as an Alternative to EU Accession
| Author | Andrea Ott |
| Published date | 01 December 2006 |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X0601300401 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
13 MJ 4 (2006) 377
EDITORIAL
IS SECOND BEST STILL GOOD ENOUGH?
THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY
AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO EU ACCESSION
A O
In October 2006 , the long-awaited European Neighbou rhood and Partnership Instru-
ment (ENPI) was adopte d. i s ENPI will set the legal f rame for nancia l support for all
EU neighbours without a concrete accession perspec tive (bene ciar ies include Algeria,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova,
Morocco, the Palesti nian Authority of t he West Bank and Gaza St rip, the Russian
Federation, Syria, Tunisia and the Uk raine) from 1 January 2007 until 31 December
2013. It replaces the existing nancial regulations for the Euro-med countr ies under
MEDA1 and the Eastern European countries u nder TACIS,2 and forms an important
central piece of a wide ar ray of measures initiated by t he European Union since the
introduction of the new European Neighbourhood Policy i n 2004.3 e ENP was, u ntil
this point, clustered arou nd political inst ruments in the form of strategy papers, act ion
plans and indiv idual countr y reports, which borrowed heav ily from the administrative
experiences gained dur ing the ten-year-long pre-accession process.4 is new policy
follows the successful ma nagement of the pre-accession strategy with dynam ic, updated
but political inst ruments in the form of progress reports and ac tion plans5 which will be
implemented through the as sociation councils a nd its decision-making and a re based
on a static, bilateral lega l basis of association ag reements.6 e nancia l instrument
1 Council Reg ulation No. 2698/2 000 of 27 November 20 00 amendi ng Regulat ion No. 1488/96 on na ncial
and technica l measures to accompa ny (MEDA) the reform of the economic a nd social struc tures in the
framework of the E uro-Mediterrane an partnership, OJ 20 00 L 311/1.
2 Council Reg ulation No.99/20 00 of 29 December 1999 conc erning the prov ision of assistance to the
partner st ates in Eastern Europ e and Asia, OJ 2000 L 12/1.
3 See generall y on the ENP, Andrea Ott a nd Ramses Wessel , ‘ e EU’s Externa l Regime: Multi level
complexity in a n expanding Union’, in S. Block mans and A. Laz owski (eds.), The Europea n Union and
its Neighbours (T.M.C. Asser Press, 2 006), 19.
4 See, Kirst yn Inglis, e current enla rgements, in A. Ott a nd K. Inglis (eds.) , Handboo k on European
Enlargement (T.M.C. Asser P ress, 2002), 103.
5 ENP Countr y Reports and E NP Action Plan s for most of the ENP cou ntries are to be fou nd on
ec.europa.eu/world /enp/documents_en.htm.
6 See for instanc e: Euro-Med Agreement wit h Algeria, OJ 2005 L 265.
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