Publication

This paper analyses the European Neighbourhood Policy in light of general European security perceptions. It explains how the EU has had difficulties in coming up with a coherent policy towards its southern neighbors, because of a substantial internal and external identity crisis, a crisis that was further highlighted by the French and Dutch rejection of the European Constitution. The paper argues that the tension between modernity and post-modernity, between the European model of exporting universalism and the nationalist tendency of closing down borders, has additionally aggravated the identity crisis. The paper concludes that the general identity crisis of the European Union has made it more difficult for the EU to act as an international exporter of European values.