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Content archived on 2024-06-16

The European Union as a foreign policy actor: Shaping the new neighbourhood

Objective

The development of the European Union as a foreign policy actor is one of the most complex challenges confronting EU member states. The significance and urgency of this task was heightened by the 2004 enlargement which brought the EU into a new and more diverse Eastern neighbourhood. Like the states on the EUs longstanding southern periphery, the new states in the East are both varied and `less-like the current EU. Most neighbours are relatively poor, many are weak democratically and a large number are embroiled in protracted conflicts. Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the EU in 2007 and the prospect of Turkish membership will shift the EUs borders closer to an even more varied and unstable neighbourhood.

This research argues that the gravity and inescapability of the challenges residing in the `new neighbourhood present a key test of the EUs collective mettle to create a coherent foreign policy. With this in mind this project seeks to investigate the nature and assess the "maturity" of the EU as a foreign policy actor by focusing on the EU's strategies towards four of its neighbours: Ukraine, Moldova, Israel and Morocco. The research will lead to a new empirically informed analytical framework on the EU as a foreign policy actor and will also deliver timely policy-relevant findings at a crucial point in the EU's development.

This EIF furthers the goals of the Human Resources and Mobility programmes and the ERA by contributing to the promotion of excellence in European research, enhancing the participation of women as researchers and by enabling the fellow to diversify her research profile and gain new complementary skills in order to reach a level of professional maturity.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Topic(s)

Call for proposal

FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships

Coordinator

INSTITUT FRANçAIS DES RELATIONS INTERNATIONALES (FRENCH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS)
EU contribution
No data
Total cost
No data