Love thy neighbour – the right way

It is now nearly two years since the first action plans were approved under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and it is perhaps not too early to assess the results so far. The German presidency, which takes over in January, is anxious to raise the ENP’s profile and the European Commission will be producing a report, with recommendations, next month.

The first wave of seven action plans was agreed early in 2005 and covered Israel, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. A further wave, covering the three south Caucasian states - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - has already been negotiated and will be formally adopted at co-operation councils with the three states in mid-November.

Negotiations are still continuing with Egypt and Lebanon, but - for obvious reasons - no talks have taken place with Belarus or Syria, nor with Libya, a potentially eligible country, which has not, however, yet signed up to the Barcelona Process, an obvious first step for Mediterranean countries.

Algeria, which has just ratified its Association Agreement with the EU, may be next in line to negotiate an action plan. Further afield, the Kazakhstan government has recently expressed interest in coming on board, though its human rights record is hardly up to scratch, even if distinctly better than its Uzbek and Turkmen neighbours.

The basic formula behind the action plans is that the states involved will receive increasing amounts of aid from the EU, in exchange for promoting democracy and human rights and liberalising their economies. No promise of future EU membership is involved, though it is clear that for states which would otherwise be eligible, the more progress they make under the ENP, the stronger candidates they will eventually become.

So far, the results achieved have been rather uneven. The star pupils are generally considered to be Morocco and Jordan, both of which have introduced important constitutional and legal reforms and have benefited from the presence of EU advisers in a large number of fields.

Ukraine is also reckoned to have made good use of the ENP, under which it received an enhanced package of aid after the Orange Revolution. It has now held two free and fair elections, greatly increased media freedom and - in conjunction with Moldova - helped to block off the flow of smuggling across the Transdniestrian border and has co-operated fully in attempts to resolve this long-festering dispute.

Much remains, however, for the Ukrainians to do in cleaning up corruption and preparing their economy for membership of the World Trade Organization. It also remains to be seen whether Viktor Yanukovich’s government will show as much commitment as its predecessor to pursuing its European vocation.

As for the three Caucasian states, the Commission has only guarded hopes that they will achieve optimal results from their new association, as Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European commissioner for external relations, recently made clear in a surprisingly frank speech.

Major question-marks have already developed over whether, in the absence of a pledge of future membership, the carrots and sticks involved in the ENP and in other EU policies designed to help neighbouring states, are sufficient to induce them to take steps which they are reluctant to perform.

A case in point is Egypt which, within the past year, has failed to deliver on its promise of genuine multi-party elections, despite the substantial aid which it has received not only from the EU but also from the US. This is deeply disturbing and accounts - in part - for the delay in agreeing an action plan.

A new pamphlet from the Centre for ­European Reform, Europe’s Blurred Boundaries, formulates policy ­recommendations for the Commission.

The EU has not yet got the formula quite right and probably has not made a strong enough financial commitment to optimise the contribution which the ENP could make to enlarging "the area of peace, prosperity and democracy" which the EU wishes to construct around its borders.

For example, countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, now under savage economic pressure from Russia, could well be offered compensatory payments for the losses they have suffered.

So, there is much room for improvement, but enough has already been achieved to conclude that the ENP is a useful addition to the external policies of the Union and should be further developed.

• Dick Leonard is the author of The Economist Guide to the European Union.

It is now nearly two years since the first action plans were approved under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and it is perhaps not too early to assess the results so far. The German presidency, which takes over in January, is anxious to raise the ENP’s profile and the European Commission will be producing a report, with recommendations, next month.