The first “neighbours”

“Our friends in our European and Mediterranean neighbourhood will be among the first to benefit from a more active, more coherent and more effective European foreign policy”; declared Catherine Ashton, Vice-President of the Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, commenting on the partnership with twelve “neighbour” Countries. The balance in her opinion is positive.Twelve partners, to the South and to the East. Cooperating for the improvement of democracy and human rights, increasing business relation, stepping up co-operation on issues like energy, transport, visas or migration. These are some of the areas addressed by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Since 2004 the EU has provided nearly EUR 12 billion for the implementation of the ENP since 2004 with 12 recipient Countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Republic of Moldova, the occupied Palestinian territory, Tunisia and Ukraine. On May 12 the Commission issued the annual PEV reports which “once again demonstrate the clear benefits that the European Union brings to its neighbours”, Ashton said. “For five years, the European Union has been delivering more trade, more aid, more people-to-people contacts and far deeper co-operation between the EU and its neighbours on the whole range of their economic, political and sectoral reforms” with Mediterranean Countries, in the near and far East and in Eastern Europe. Uniting forces to combat “world threats”. “The European Neighbourhood Policy is a success story with many examples of concrete achievements on the ground,”, continued the High Representative. “”But there is a lot more we can and should do to make our part of the world more secure, more stable and more prosperous”. European and Mediterranean countries, need to help each other face the economic crisis”. “We need to work together to confront the new threats and challenges of our time, such as international terrorism, human trafficking and cross-border organised crime. We need to co-operate to solve the disputes and conflicts that still hold parts of our region back, and deny many ordinary people the benefits of globalisation. We want our neighbours to join our efforts to bring peace and security to other parts of the world who are less fortunate than we are”. “And we want our neighbours to benefit from the stability and prosperity that come with open and democratic society and the rule of law”. “Investing in the EU’s own stability”. The EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility, supported by EU budget and those of Member States, provides grant support to leverage loans (over EUR 4,7 billion in 2007-2009) for concrete investments in transport, environment, energy, private and social sectors. Stefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, remarked: “Further strengthening the ENP is no less than an investment in the EU’s own stability”. The ENP is a “win-win game: the higher our partners’ reform ambitions, the stronger our response”. According to the Commissioner, economic reforms have progressed remarkably across our neighbourhood, both East and South. What is essential for the future is to go up a gear on democratic and political reforms, where progress has been real but generally slower”.Rights, justice and economic affairs. The documents released by the Executive providing an overview of the ENP, convey specific commitments and objectives. As relates to governance for example, the Commission notes: “The recent presidential elections in Ukraine, the second round of parliamentary elections in Moldova, as well as improvements in quality of elections in Morocco or Lebanon show some progress in democratic process”. On freedom of association, death penalty, media freedom, minority rights and other human rights and fundamental freedoms, “there have been improvements in several ENP countries”. But progress has generally “not matched the ambitions expressed jointly in the ENP and in the Action Plans”. “Much remains to be done too in terms of judicial and public administration reforms and effectively tackling corruption”. The EU document delves into visa facilitation (Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia), The increase in business relations (free-trade agreements with many Countries), energy agreements (with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco and, subject to conditions, with Ukraine and Moldova).