This paper aims at analyzing the relationship between security, integration and associated members. While most of the recent literature about the EU as a security actor focuses on its global role, this paper emphasizes the value of the EU as an important regional security actor. My main argument is that it is on the European continent and its near abroad that the EU has been, still is and probably will be the most successful as a security actor. I make two general claims: First, it is the development of common rules and values in different policy areas that constitute the basis of the EU as a security actor (“a comprehensive security actor”). Second, the successful projection of these rules and values beyond EU borders will primarily determine the impact of the EU as a security actor. The aim of this paper is therefore to show the extent to which the EU manages to promote security and stability through the externalization of rules and values through various processes, such as the enlargement process, various association agreements and neighborhood policies. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of how the EU functions as a regional security actor, I will study its policies towards different categories of associated non-members. In this context, I will distinguish between four different groups of countries: the candidate countries, the EFTA countries, the ENP partner countries in the East and the ENP partners in the South.
