NGOs fordern größeres Mitspracherecht bei Nachbarschaftspolitik[en] 

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) covers the relationships between the EU and its direct neighbours to the east and the south.

The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) is the main framework for the provision of financial assistance to countries in eastern Europe, the south Caucasus and the southern shore of the Mediterranean between 2007 and 2013.

The EU offers to its ENP partner countries deeper economic ties through trade and economic integration and has continued trade relations with most ENP partners, including Ukraine, Moldova as well as launching negotiations to extend free-trade argreements with Mediterranean partners. The South East Europe Energy Community is a recent example of the strengthened co-operation in key sectors. The EU also provides funding through the Neighbourhood Investment Fund and a Governance Facility .

At a conference in Brussels on 6 February 2007 on the implementation of the ENPI, NGO and Parliament representatives clashed with the Commission over its priorities on relations with neighbouring countries.

While NGOs demanded a stronger emphasis on political priorities, such as conflict resolution, human rights and democracy, Commission representatives underlined that the aim of the ENP was not to impose policies, but to follow mutually-agreed Action Plans.

The participants also discussed the consistency of the implementation of the ENPI with European commitments, such as the European Consensus on Development and the UN Millennium Declaration. The event further addressed the issues of poverty eradication, gender equality, environment protection and human-rights promotion in the context of the implementation of the neighbourhood policy.

Mary Teresa Moran of the Commission’s DG Relex, in charge of general co-ordination of the ENP, underlined: "The goal and method of the ENP is to work together and not to impose reform. We can’t keep everybody happy, we cannot impose reforms." She added: "We need to make use of all the instruments at our disposal. We cannot do this alone without the support from governments and civil society."

Socialist MEP Ana Gomes pointed out to the Parliament's increasing involvement in the implementation of the ENP. She criticised the current approach for giving too much weight on the economic relations and too little emphasis on political reform. She said: "We don’t make enough use of what is already written in the agreements."

Mourad Allal from the NGO Plateforme Euromed said: "The ENP is not very clear. The policy is not fashionable and not appealing to people." Allal also pointed out that there was a gap between the theory and the implementation of the policy and called for a better inclusion of political priorities, such as human rights, as well as more consistency and coherence of the ENP funding with other policy instruments.

Simon Stocker, representing the network of development NGOs Eurostep said: "It needs to be recognised that most ENP countries are developing countries. That is why development policy should play an important role in the relations with neighbouring countries and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should be included."