The ENP under foreign policy constraints: institutional coherence and external challenges

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is a vital part of the external relations of the European Union (EU) with its near abroad. During the years after the Arab Spring 2010/11, the ENP underwent a number of re-formulations that culminated provisionally in the recent review paper of 18 November 2015. Undoubtedly, with these reform steps the EU reacts to a changed and more complex environment. Internally, too, the ENP was perceived to be inadequate for implementing core ideas set out in its own objectives as well as in the broader framework of external relations. The paper will examine the reform efforts by the EU within the ENP since 2011 and contrast these with the complex challenges to the EU resulting from the developments in the near abroad since 2011: civil wars (Libya, Syria), increase of trans-Mediterranean terrorist activities (Daesh, Al-Qaida), annexation of the Crimea and conflict in Ukraine, economic downturn in nearly all neighbouring partner countries and more and more obvious violations of human rights by authoritarian rulers. In particular, our paper will analyse in how far the reviews of the ENP are connected to the challenges and the other areas of external relations as well as Justice and Home affairs (security policy and migration and asylum policy). It will embed these challenges into the existing framework and analyse the (in-)coherence of the approaches, especially between ENP and CFSP.