Framing the EU’s policy towards the neighbourhood: the strategic approach of the Seventh European Parliament (2009–2014)^*

^*The author would like to thank the reviewers for their very helpful feedback.

Abstract

The Lisbon treaty afforded the European Parliament (EP) increased powers in foreign policy. These have included new legislative competences in the area of international agreements or the European Union’s (EU) relations with third party states. This article analyses the way the last mandate of the EP, which was the first to benefit from the changes introduced by the Lisbon treaty, framed EU foreign policy. More specifically, it explores the way in which the EP strategically framed the EU’s approach towards the neighbourhood countries. The focus on the neighbourhood is justified by the fact that it is the most salient area of the EU’s foreign policy. The article shows that the EP pushed for the EU to have a stronger presence in the neighbourhood. The EP also strategically aimed that it should have a more central role in shaping the EU’s approach towards the neighbourhood.

Notes

^* The author would like to thank the reviewers for their very helpful feedback.

¹ The neighbourhood is the broad region composed of the EU’s southern and eastern neighbours included in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia in the south, and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in the east.

² Analysing the activity of several mandates of the EP would, nevertheless, provide a more detailed picture. However, the seventh EP was the first to benefit from the changes introduced by the Lisbon treaty, and one which experienced the emergence of various crises in the EU’s neighbourhood. Moreover, the literature points to the fact that EP has been aiming for the past two decades to gain a more salient role in the EU’s foreign policy, which makes the case of the seventh EP a good testing ground for this claim (Viola 2000; Elles 1990; Stavridis and Irrera 2015).

³ The Committee on Foreign Affairs plays a crucial role if not the most salient role in shaping the EP’s approach in foreign policy. Members are usually chosen according to their expertise and experience of working with EU partner countries. The committee usually contracts academics to draft assessments on the situation in various places around the world (including the neighbourhood) usually focusing for example on democracy promotion, the state of human rights, migration or terrorism.

⁴ In the literature there is a tendency for views that underline the transnational nature of decision-making in EU foreign policy to be linked with value-based perspectives (Sjursen 2011). The argument holds that the EU is a sui generis international actor which not only pursues values in its foreign policy, but also does this in a novel way through its transnational institutions (Wunderlich 2012).

⁵ While the focus on strategic framing can paint a clear picture of the way political actors seek to shape various policies, it cannot provide valid insight about the way they affect policy outcomes.

⁶ The EaP is an initiative set up by the EU and the eastern ENP countries which seeks to foster further enhanced cooperation. It was set up in 2009 in the wake of the Russian–Georgian war following a joint Polish–Swedish proposal and seeks to advance the mutual values and interests of the EU and the eastern neighbours.

⁷ The UfM is an intergovernmental organization composed of the EU and the southern ENP states. Set up in 2008, it aims to provide a forum for dialogue and cooperation in the region.

⁸ The analysis focuses on key issue areas rather than broad events such as the Arab Spring or the Ukraine crisis.

⁹ The EU signs with its partners AAs which set up a broader framework of cooperation in areas such as: trade, politics, culture, education, transport, energy or society.

¹⁰ The EU establishes free trade areas with partners around the world, however, in the case of three eastern neighbours (Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine) the AA included a DCFTA. This is an enhanced free trade area which establishes preferential trade relations and gives access to their own markets better than those offered to other partners. DCFTAs also include the removal of import duties for various products.

¹¹ To a certain extent the EP’s strategy was successful as the EEAS and the Commission broadened the consultations for the 2015 revision of the ENP.

¹² This can be seen as an active effort on the part of the EP to interact directly with other international actors. The extent to which these efforts were successful is questionable and requires further research.

¹³ The two continuums can be employed in the case of other EU institutions in order to study the way they strategically frame foreign policy.