Differentiated integration and European Neighbourhood policy: the asymmetry supporting EU external action (?)

Neighbourhood policy governs the EU's relations with 16 of its southern and eastern neighbours. On 9 February 2021, 25 years after the Barcelona Declaration, the European Commission published a Joint Communication “Renewed partnership with Southern Neighbourhood – A new Agenda for the Mediterranean”. It includes 5 strategic directions, which aimed to build sustainable long-lasting stable region with partnership countries. As the key policy areas had been pointed: Human development, good governance and the rule of law; Strengthen resilience, build prosperity and seize the digital transition; Peace and security; Migration and mobility; Green transition: climate resilience, energy, and environment. The strategic interaction between EU and non-member states creates space for the evaluation of the need for differentiated integration or even its impact. The EU with the ambition to strengthen strategic partnership with Mediterranean countries supply an excessive amount to support priority areas and policies in order to induce partnership countries to voluntarily adopt EU policies. The priorities in neighbourhood policy are alligned with principles stated in article 21 TEU, meantime also corresponds to the values common to EU member states as stated in the article 2 TEU. The EU conduct in supporting the effective policies’ implementation in Member states is rather focused on the enforcement, while in the ENP it is focused on strategic interaction and cooperation. We show the asymmetry of the EU approach based on the same values, in three areas: human rights and rule of law, migration and green transition and assess how the different legal regulation, policy strategies and instruments and allocated finances in EU Member states and in ENP, especially in Mediterranean, support differentiated integration. We argue that EU is more likely to support non-member states in exchange for adopting EU rules as the Member states and this differentiated approach is contrary to integration model inside the EU, although it creates more space to be successful in external relations.