Morocco and Jordan lead EU 'neighbourhood' pack

BRUSSELS - Morocco and Jordan did best in 2005 in terms of EU reforms in line with the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) the European Commission will say next week, when it unveils proposals for a new ENP-plus that are to include a pro-democracy fund and a multilateral diplomatic structure for eastern Europe.

The two Mediterranean rim states already got bits of extra EU cash in recognition of progress last year, but in the 2007 to 2013 period Brussels plans to set up a formal €300 million fund to reward pro-democracy pace setters in the 16-strong ENP club, commission sources revealed on Tuesday (21 November).

The commission's detailed blueprint for the new model ENP - which aims to create a ring of peaceful and economically advanced states around the EU's borders - will be unveiled in Brussels on 29 November in time for the upcoming German EU presidency to dovetail the ideas with its own foreign policy thinking.

The commission's ENP-plus will suggest a second new fund of €700 million to help neighbourhood states co-fund borrowing from the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with Brussels hoping member states will top up its €700 million to €7 billion.

Brussels is also set to propose a new multilateral diplomatic structure for the six ex-Soviet states covered by the ENP on the model of the Barcelona Process, which has tried to improve relations with Mediterranean rim states as a group since it was put in place in 1995.

The ex-Soviet states currently talk to the EU on a bilateral basis only.

Alternative to enlargement?

But it is unclear how the new ENP will address some of the key criticisms levelled at the old version by some analysts, who say the ENP does not offer a big enough incentive for painful reforms in transitional states such as Ukraine and that bureaucracy often sees EU projects outpaced by events on the ground.

The ENP-plus will not offer any promises on enlargement for EU-hopeful states Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia with commission sources saying it is a "complementary" policy to accession rather than an "alternative", but with most of the ex-Soviet hopefuls seeing it as a waiting room for at least 10 years before talks on accession can begin.

The very language used to describe the new ENP as a policy that will "offer a perspective of a deeper single market integration" mirrors the pro-accession language that Ukraine is fighting to get into its new post-2007 EU treaty, pushing Brussels to give a "perspective" on enlargement instead.

Meanwhile, the commission's plan does not foresee rolling out the ENP to Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan - which has asked to be part of the neighbourhood scheme - but it does also plan to unveil a new policy blueprint for Central Asia after 29 November that will have "some elements of the neighbourhood policy" in it.

Brussels and Berlin see eye-to-eye

Brussels' ideas seem to fit neatly with Germany's thinking on future EU engagement in the post-Soviet east, as outlined in a so-called "Ostpolitik" document drafted this summer by a strategic planning unit attached to the German foreign ministry.

With strong regard for an ascendant Russian power that must be made to feel "welcome" in Europe dominating Germany's vision, Berlin foresees an enhanced ENP that would see EU neighbours adopt EU single market law but fall short of accession during the next 10 years to create a buffer-ring of non-EU but EU-like states.

The upcoming German presidency is also considering reaching out to Central Asia by "bundling" existing EU projects for creating free trade zones and building new pipelines into a "coherent" new policy, the first glimmer of which could already be seen in Berlin's push to relax EU sanctions against Uzbekistan earlier this month.