With an eye to its neighbours

The May number of “Europe infos”, the monthly of COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community) and OCIPE (Catholic Office of Information and Initiative for Europe) is almost entirely dedicated to European neighbourhood policy. In his editorial NOËL TREANOR emphasises the fundamental role that the Christian Churches of the East and West can play in this context: “they can foster mutual understanding and respect for our common and complementary religious and cultural traditions” with a view to “an interdependent common future and mutual enrichment”. Neighbourhood policy, explains the director of “Europe infos”, “was launched in 2003-2004”. Sixteen neighbouring countries “have participated in various EU programmes and projects over the last two years”. NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY AND VALUES. “If European neighbourhood policy, which is the result of the Union’s vocation to export peace, stability, prosperity and its system of values, seems to lack any clear direction – observes Treanor -, the context for the implementation of a coherent neighbourhood policy has become far more complex since 2004”. That is due to such factors as “international terrorism, the situation in the Middle East, Russia’s pursuit of autonomy rather than interdependence, and the development of China”. These geopolitical realities “demand a clearer differentiation of the objectives of neighbourhood policy and specific instruments of guidance”. In this context, Treanor expresses regret for “the disappearance” from the Communication of the European Commission on the reinforcement of this policy (12 December 2006) of the commitment “to promote human rights, the rule of law, democracy and the development of civil society”. “This is a serious shortcoming” he comments. He underlines the need for “the European Union to reinforce the coherence of its neighbourhood policy and root it in an explicit system of values”, especially in view of a future in which “relations with the countries along its periphery will become even more crucial”. RUSSIA AND EUROPEAN UNION . “The European Union and Russia have a need for each other for various reasons – says MICHAEL KUHN -. In spite of this, their relations are very complex and cannot be reduced to a classic scheme in black and white”. Europe depends on energy resources such as petrol and natural gas; Russia “is the major supplier of gas and is an important country of transit for petroleum”, points out Kuhn, emphasizing that after Putin’s show of strength vis-à-vis Ukraine and Belarus, “Europe is trying to find alternative means of transport for natural gas”. Further problems are posed by “Russia’s re-found confidence as a world power alongside the USA and the great emerging nations such as China and India”, and the “tensions in Russia’s relations with the EU”, or those linked to the controversy over the US “anti-missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic” and the consequent appeal of the German and Belgian Foreign Ministers to Russia to respect “its treaties of partnership and strategies of cooperation with the EU”. “A common foreign policy – concludes Kuhn – remains a challenge for the EU” and “will require patience and tact”. CENTRAL ASIA AND BLACK SEA . “The key element of neighbourhood policy – explains MARKUS MERK – is based on bilateral action plans that provide for a calendar of jointly adopted political and economic reforms” and that currently involve ten countries in Middle East, Moldavia and Ukraine. For the period 2007-2013, EU funds allocated to reforms in Europe’s neighbourhood policy partners were raised to almost 12 billion euros (32% more than in the previous period). But the horizons are constantly widening: “COMECE will continue to monitor the further development” of this policy, “in particular as regards the formulation and adoption of a new strategy for Central Asia” to be subjected “to the approval of the European Council in June”, concludes Merk. Attention is also being focused on the Black Sea, “outlet for Russian and Caucasian petroleum”, and basin onto which face “the two countries that joined the EU on 1st January 2007, Romania and Bulgaria”, observes HENRI MADELIN , according to whom “we now need to consider the Atlantic Ocean to the West and the Black Sea to the East” as the frontiers of the Union. “The Americans – he notes – grasped the strategic importance of this part of the world long before the Europeans”, but it’s now time for Europe “to speak, intervene and defend its own interests… For this reason it will undoubtedly need to reinforce its own strategic alliance with Turkey”. But cooperation with “the Black Sea region” is not anything new, says JOHANNA TOUZEL. “There already exists – she points out – an EU funding in its favour, as also “a programme of cross-border cooperation”. Despite that, the European Commission presented a specific initiative called “Black Sea Synergy” on 11 April.