EU-Neighbourhood Policy

In June 2018, the transformation of the political system from a parliamentary to a presidential one has become effective. The Turkish Parliament has been weakened and the political hierarchy with the President as the highest standing has been further strenghtened. But suspending accession talks would also suspend European support for more democracy.

The EU has lost a great deal of its standing and influence in the Western Balkans. Domestic political elites consolidate their power through ever-tightening control over civic space. Why do millions of euros in governance and civil society assistance have failed to support robust democracies? 

The need to balance humanitarian responses and legal obligations while ‘ending’ irregular migratory journeys has overwhelmed the EU for the past three years. A patchwork of policies emerged as a response to the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015. Who undertakes the responsibility for search and rescue, disembarkation and asylum processing?

The migration question has only been addressed with short-term answers in response to a situation perceived as urgency and ‘problem’. But could a legal migration not rather be part of the solution and contribute to develop a real vision of a diverse society? 

With an unleashed US president seemingly determined to destroy tried and trusted transatlantic ties along with the multilateral order that the United States created together with its Western European allies after WWII, the European Union finds itself more and more on its own. The EU has to (re)define what role it wants to play in a global context and in its neighbourhood. In light of the loss of important military and soft power through Brexit and the ongoing internal crisis characterised by Euroscepticism and right-wing populism, this prospect is uninviting, but urgency and necessity are obvious.  In this web dossier, we will focus on three topics: the Western Balkans enlargement strategy; the conflicts in the Middle East (Jerusalem, Syria), the refugee crisis and the transatlantic tug-of-war. ​

Turkey's political history is marked by powerful and authoritarian regimes. What are the underlying principles of Turkish governing culture nowadays? 

EU Joint Programming aims at closer cooperation in development policies and European donor countries. The decentralised and flexible approach is showing initial signs of success.

A few days ago, the Georgian population elected a portion of the 9th parliament since the country’s independence. In more than 50 single-member districts a second round of elections is scheduled.

Putinist trolls are having a good time in Hungary these days. Articles published by pro-Kremlin, anti-immigrant news sites are shared by thousands of readers, often mistaken for actual news stories. Objective journalism has thus been degraded to just one of many possible narratives for interpreting the world around us.

The new European Neighbourhood Policy, as introduced in November 2015, provides a framework in which to discuss Moroccan migration policies as well as the impact of European migration policies on the affected migrants.