Mapping-out the new contractual relations between the European Union and its neighbours: learning from the EU–Ukraine ‘Enhanced Agreement’

Abstract:

The European Neighbourhood Policy envisages the establishment, in due course, of a new type of bilateral agreement between the Union and the ENP countries, designed to replace the existing agreements between the Union, and its East European and Mediterranean neighbours. In January 2007, the Council adopted the negotiating directives for an ‘enhanced agreement between the European Union and Ukraine’. This decision follows an earlier Commission recommendation that the new agreement be comprehensive, binding and durable. The new treaty with Ukraine will be significant. Not only does it concern a key ENP player, it will also be the first of the new generation of agreements foreseen by the Neighbourhood Policy. The present paper thus seeks to examine this envisaged EU-Ukraine arrangement with a view to shedding light on the possible contours and contents of the new contractual framework that should govern the EU relationship with its neighbours.