Publication

This article looks at the first decade of the EU's neighborhood policy vis-à-vis its eastern neighbors. The authors look into the successes and failures of the EU. They argue that in the last decade, the degree of interdependence in trade, security and political domains between the EU and its neighbors increased dramatically. However the EU has not succeeded in turning its growing political and economic presence into power, i.e., the ability to achieve what it wants. The reasons for this include the political centralization among most of the EU’s eastern partners; the fact that these states did not commit to pro-EU policies, choosing instead 'multi-vector' foreign policies; and the fact that the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) was a third-tier priority for the EU.