European Neighbourhood Policy in Crisis: Lessons from EU Enlargement to Enlargement-Lite

European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which is also called as "enlargement lite" (Emerson, 2011), has been in times of crisis and in need for an urgent and deep revision due to the vastly changing political landscape in the neighbouring regions of the EU and lack of rule adoption especially in political conditionality matters. Using the external incentives model, this paper analyses the role of political conditionality in the enlargement and neighbourhood policies of the European Union (EU) in a comparative perspective, aiming to draw lessons for the revision of the European Neighbourhood Policy. It argues that political conditionality is at the core of ENP for political reforms and good governance. As regards the lessons from enlargement, this paper argues that the ENP needs clearly specified incentives, benchmarks and timelines for each area of cooperation, taking into account the varying needs of the partners to the east and south. While the EU and the ENP countries must reinforce their credibility in the relations, the revised Policy should put greater emphasis on the rule of law, good governance and people-to-people contacts.