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THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY (ENP)

European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) covers sixteen countries:
South: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine , Syria and Tunisia
East: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, ( Russia takes part in Cross-Border Cooperation activities under the ENP and is not a part of the ENP as such.)

Through ENP, the EU works with its Southern and Eastern neighbours to achieve the closest possible political association and the greatest possible degree of economic integration. This goal builds on common interests and on values — democracy, the rule of law, the respect for human rights, and social cohesion. The ENP is a key part of European Union's foreign policy. The ENP has been launched in 2003 and developed throughout 2004, with the objective of avoiding the emergence of new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and its neighbours and instead, strengthening the prosperity, stability and security of all.

ENP review

The ENP was reviewed in 2011, following the 'Arab Spring' uprisings. However, given the significant developments in the Neighbourhood since 2011, it became essential to undertake a further review of the ENP. In this regard, a Joint Communication setting out the main lines of the review of the ENP has been published on 18 November 2015.
During the public consultation of this review more than 250 contributions were received from partner countries, international organisations, social partners, civil society and academia. Under the revised ENP, stabilisation of the region, in political, economic, and security-related terms, are at the heart of the new policy. Moreover, the revised ENP puts a strong emphasis on two principles: the implementation of a differentiated approach to Neighbours of the EU, to respect the different aspirations of partner countries and to better answer EU interests and the interests of the partners; and an increased ownership by partner countries and Member States.

Neighbourhood South

Relations between the EU and the countries on its Southern flank go back a long way, from 1995 when the Euro-Med Partnership (Barcelona Process) was launched. Since then, these partner countries have become part of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and participate in the Union for the Mediterranean, set up in 2008. The Southern countries participating in the ENP and getting support from its financial arm, the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) are: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia.

EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD INSTRUMENT (ENI)

The European Neighbourhood Policy is financed through the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) for the period 2014-2020. The European Neighbourhood Instrument with a budget of €15.4 billion provides the bulk of funding to the 16 partner countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the line with the principles of differentiation and the incentive based approach.
Building on the achievements of the previous European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), the ENI aims to support strengthening of relations with Neighbourhood countries and bring tangible benefits to both the EU and its partners. The Instrument is built on to strengthen some of the key features of the ENPI, notably greater differentiation between countries based on progress with reforms, with two new mechanisms to support an incentive based approach.

ENI programming

Programming is done only for the first years of the Multi-annual Financial Framework period (MFF 2014-2020) to allow adaptation of EU support to evolving situation in each country/region. In the spirit of differentiation, the timeframes of the programming documents differ and take into account the specificity of the country situation and/or the programmes concerned. In line with the ENI Regulation, indicative allocations are presented in a range of not more than 20%.
The programming priorities are developed in close cooperation with the national authorities of partner countries, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, and in coordination with EU Member States. Action plans and other jointly agreed documents are key points of reference. They were also subject of a Strategic Dialogue on programming with the European Parliament.

For Programming Documents: http://eeas.europa.eu/enp/documents/financing-the-enp

EU COOPERATION AT REGIONAL LEVEL

Regional cooperation in the European Neighbourhood complements national assistance programmes, addresses regional challenges, promotes cooperation amongst partners and builds bridges in both Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood.

Regional Cooperation with Mediterranean Partners
Regional Cooperation in Neighbourhood South encourages South-North and South-South cooperation and promotes dialogue, the exchange of views and knowledge sharing.
Regional cooperation usually involves all the countries in the Southern Neighbourhood, but can also take place at sub-regional level. It focuses on activities where:

the region is facing common challenges and thus where common approaches are the most effective,
a shared resource is concerned for which common responsibility needs to be taken, such as the Mediterranean Sea ,
partners seek to move jointly towards more integrated economies, and need to work in a coordinated manner on such issues as transport networks or electricity transmissions.

Most of the regional cooperation activities support priorities agreed jointly by the partners in Ministerial meetings covering the region. Regional cooperation offers a unique opportunity for people to sit around the same table and to be part of a dialogue. As people work together, experiences are shared, relationships built, networks created and common activities carried out. While many of these projects involve technical dialogue with partner governments, civil society and other local stakeholders are also part of this effort.
Regional cooperation is mainly funded through the financial arm of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI).
To find out more about the activities funded visit the web site of the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre.

EU COOPERATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The vast majority of ENI funding is used for bilateral cooperation, tailor-made to each Neighbourhood partner country. A key element in this context is the bilateral ENP Action Plans (AP), which is mutually agreed between the EU and each partner country.
An AP sets out an agenda of political and economic reforms with short and medium-term priorities and serves as the political framework guiding the priorities for cooperation.
More information on the bilateral cooperation with the partner countries.

EU DOCUMENTS

You can access the EU documents through these links:

EU LINKS

EU Institutions and Foreign Policy

EU Delegations in the Partner Countries
Following the Treaty of Lisbon, the European External Action Service is responsible for running 139 EU Delegations and Offices operating throughout the world, globally representing the European Union and its citizens globally. The EU Delegations play a key role in presenting, explaining and implementing EU’s foreign policies. They also analyse and report on the policies and developments of their host countries and conduct negotiations in accordance with given mandates. Contact information of the EU Delegations in the Southern Mediterranean:

European Neighbourhood Policy

Civil Society Networks

Other Platforms