through cooperation in the wider Europe region (European Commission 1997: 43). Yet how this
would be translated into actual new policies was not specified.
With the new wave of enlargement looming, in 2002 EU institutions and governments
started to debate more explicitly amongst themselves the issue of its relations with the future
neighbours. In April the EU’s General Affairs Council (GEARC) invited EU Commissioner
Chris Patten and the EU High Representative Javier Solana to “work up ideas on the EU
relations with its neighbors.” In August the duo wrote a “Joint letter on Wider Europe”. There
they argued that the EU’s interests and overriding objectives for a neighbourhood policy are
“stability, prosperity, shared values and rule of law along our borders,” and that they are “all
fundamental for our own security”.
On these premises in March 2003 the European Commission came up with a plan in
which it outlined the guiding principles of the new European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)
. The
ENP was officially adopted by the Thessalonica European Council of June 2003. A year later,
the Commission issued a “Strategy Paper”
which set out the principles, geographical scope,
methodology for implementation of the ENP, and issues related to regional cooperation.
The main principles of the ENP are summarized by the then President of the European
Commission, Romano Prodi: “My aim is giving them (EU’s neighbours) incentives, injecting a
new dynamic in existing processes and developing an open and evolving partnership. This is
what we call our proximity policy, a policy based on mutual benefits and obligations, which is a
substantial contribution by the EU to global governance.”
The incentives Prodi is referring to
are a stake in the EU’s Internal Market and further integration and liberalization to promote the
5
The plan was included in a Communication to the Council and the European Parliament titled “Wider Europe —
Neighbourhood: A New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and Southern Neighbours”, COM (2003) 104
final.
6
Communication from the Commission, “European Neighbourhood Policy: Strategy Paper”, COM(2004) 373 final
7
Romano Prodi, “A Wider Europe - A Proximity Policy as the key to stability”; speech delivered at the Sixth
ECSA-World Conference, Brussels, 5-6 December 2002
6
Convention