Lessons from the Balkans: The ENP as a Possible Conflict Management Tool?

Abstract

The 2004 and 2007 enlargements moved the European Union (EU) closer — geographically, politically and security-wise — to a number of frozen and violent ethnic conflicts in its so-called ‘new neighbourhood’. These conflicts include ongoing disputes in Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Algeria, Moldova (Transnistria), Armenia/Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh), Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), Morocco/Western Sahara, Egypt, Ukraine, Jordan and Syria. EU foreign policymakers have in recent developments of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common European Security and Defence Policy (CESDP)¹ stressed the importance of managing these conflicts. With the 2003 European Security Strategy and the launch of the 2004 European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) the Union explicitly articulated its intention to take a more active stance in the management of violent ethnic conflicts in the ENP area (and beyond).