Meandering Europeanisation. EU policy instruments and policy convergence in Georgia under the Eastern Partnership

Abstract

The literature on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has so far mostly concentrated on variables pertaining to European Union (EU) governance to analyse the diffusion of EU norms and rules at its periphery. While these variables undoubtedly matter, the present paper brings in other factors to assess the EU's influence in its eastern neighbourhood and studies the interplay between domestic, EU and international factors in the process of the ENP implementation. The paper aims at mapping and explaining the EU's influence in Georgia by examining a set of three variables accounting for policy change in the field of visa policy: domestic preferences, EU pressure/incentives for Europeanisation and the influence of other international players. By explaining the resistance to, or the acceptance of, EU norms, the paper contributes to the debate on the mechanisms underlying EU's influence on neighbouring countries and the outcomes of this influence.

Keywords:

• policy instruments
• European Neighbourhood Policy
• Eastern Partnership
• Europeanisation
• domestic change
• policy convergence

Notes

Major reforms were launched in the wake of the Rose Revolution, in 2004 and early 2005. While Georgia was included (together with Armenia and Azerbaijan) in the ENP in 2004, negotiations for an Action Plan (the ENP's key policy document defining an agenda for reform) started in 2005 and the final document was adopted in November 2006. The ENP thus became fully operational in Georgia in 2007. See http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/pdf/information/enp_brochure_en.pdf, 12, Accessed May 25, 2012.

“The ENP could and should be strengthened, particularly when one considers the prohibitive potential cost of failing to support our neighbours in their reform efforts. The EU must present an attractive offer to ENP partner countries” (European Commission 2006, 2).

Emphasis in the original text.

The GSP+ system applied to half of Georgian exports to the EU.

Cf. G. Bokeria, then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs: “There is no other environment. There is no other family we can move to”, quoted in De Waal (2011, 33).

Interview, EU Delegation to Georgia, Tbilisi, November 2011.

“Food Safety and the Enlargement of the European Union”, speech by David Byrne, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, European Business Summit, Brussels, June 6, 2002. SPEECH/02/260.

Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs; Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin in order to guarantee a high level of food safety and public health; Regulation (EC) No. 854/2004 putting in place a community framework of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption.

Interview, EU Delegation to Georgia, Tbilisi, November 2011.

Author's calculations based upon EU DG Home data.

As a result of a successful linkage first operated by Russia when negotiating with the EU and then replicated with ENP partner countries, in the EU's policy toolbox readmission agreements are combined with visa facilitation schemes (Trauner and Kruse 2008, 11).

This rate is calculated based upon approximately 800 requests for readmission. It is still too early to provide a full-fledged assessment, since the readmission agreement entered into force in March 2011; this assessment should be reviewed over time. Interviews at the Civil Registry Agency and with a civil society expert on mobility issues, Tbilisi, November 2011; presentation by the Deputy Minister of Justice, EU–EaP Forum, Tbilisi, March 2012.

IP/12/561, “The EU Starts a Visa Liberalisation Dialogue with Georgia.” Accessed July 3, 2012. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-561_en.htm?locale=fr.

“EU Hands over Visa Liberalisation Action Plan to Georgia.” Accessed February 27, 2013. http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25786.

The Visa Liberalisation Action Plan with Georgia is not publicly available yet. The assessment of the Action Plan and the comparison with the Moldovan and Ukrainian VLAPs are based upon interviews held at the Georgian Ministry for Euro-Atlantic Integration and at the Civil Registry in March 2013.

Government of Moldova (2010), EU–Republic of Moldova Visa Dialogue, Action Plan on Visa Liberalisation, 2.

Interviews with policy experts, Kyiv, April 2012; Chişinău, May 2012. See also Nicu Popescu, “Ukraine-Moldova Race to EU Visa-Free Regime”, euobserver.com, November 14, 2011. Accessed January 17, 2012. http://blogs.euobserver.com/popescu/2011/11/14/ukraine-moldova/.

Interview, Council of the European Union, Brussels, October 2012.

Interview with official in charge of food safety, EU Delegation, Tbilisi, November 2011.

Interview with the Deputy Director of the National Food Agency, Tbilisi, November 2011.

See note 8.

Interviews, DG Trade and DG Sanco, Brussels, October 2012.

Interviews at the National Food Safety Agency, Tbilisi, March 2013.

Cf. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Accessed November 21, 2012. http://www.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?sec_id=96&lang_id=ENG.

Interview at the Civil Registry Agency, Tbilisi, November 2011.

Interview at the Civil Registry Agency, Tbilisi, November 2011.

Interview at the Ministry for Euro-Atlantic Integration, Tbilisi, March 2013.