EU-US Cooperation in the European Neighbourhood Institutional Divergence and Normative Convergence

With the partial exception of the Western Balkans, further expansion of the Euro-Atlantic community in the form of enlargement of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is not presently attainable for, or desired by, the countries lying beyond the eastern and south-eastern borders of the two organizations. This article argues that this state of affairs has resulted in a gaping institutional divergence about the wider European constellation as seen from the United States and its European partners – especially the EU as a foreign-policy actor. At the same time, this article makes the case that norm-driven arguments – understood as the values, rules, and standards being promoted in the European neighbourhood – continue to underpin discursive practices of, and prospects for, transatlantic convergence in this diverse region. The case study of NATO-EU crisis management coordination in the European neighbourhood illustrates this claim.