L’impact de la présidence allemande de l’UE sur la politique européenne de voisinage[en] 

The study looks at the progressive implementation of the ENP, which was first established by a set of rules in 1995 and was subject to review after the 2004 enlargement. The ENP follows a geo-strategic logic that aims to avoid new divisions appearing in Europe and ensure security and stability without opening up the prospect of membership to the countries concerned. However, the past ten years have shown that only a prospect of membership allows deep political changes, the author notes. Therefore, the EU should accept the challenge of making the ENP attractive by offering concrete content to its objectives.

Germany's presidency programme focused on Eastern countries in the same way that Portugal is currently focusing on Mediterranean countries. The ENP will indeed continue to be a major concern under the Portuguese and Slovenian Presidencies. However, the German foreign affairs ministry decided to focus not only on the ENP but also on EU-Russia relations and the relationship with the central Asian countries. 

In March 2007, the EU and Ukraine launched negotiations for a new bilateral agreement on a wider basis than the current partnership and co-operation agreement. In particular, this agreement should reinforce co-operation between the EU and Ukraine in the energy sector and be the basis of a free-trade zone. The major intensification of relations with Ukraine during the German EU Presidency shows the potential of the ENP and how much this potential depends on the partner's involvement, the author argues. 

However, it is too early to say if the Ukrainian example can be used as a reference, he adds - ENP's success does not only apply to the Ukrainian case. As the EU launched the European Neighbourhood and Partnership instrument (ENPI) as a comprehensive new fund to promote co-operation, together with a new lending mandate of the European Investment Bank (EIB), specific strategies have been implemented for each country. Moreover, even if the opening of negotiations with Russia is thus far compromised, the EU-27 agreed on a strategy on central Asia under the German Presidency.