European Union urged to undertake "drastic" reform of Neighbourhood Policy

by Martin Banks

The demand, from Members of the European Parliament and others, comes on the eve of the much-awaited Eastern Neighbourhood summit in Vilnius later this week (28-29 November).

The build-up to the summit has been overshadowed by the last-minute collapse in negotiations between Ukraine and the European Union on an Association Agreement.

The Ukrainian government last week decided to officially suspend preparations for an agreement with the EU. The decision came ahead of the summit in Lithuania at which a decision on an agreement was expected.

It is now being argued that the latest impasse with Ukraine highlights "serious" shortcomings in the EU/s neighbourhood policy, the policy that binds the 28-member bloc and its central and eastern European neighbours.

As well as Ukraine, the ENP covers Moldova which is due to initial an Association Agreement with the EU in Vilnius on Thursday.

The ENP covers a total of 16 countries in eastern Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa and the Middle East. The eastern ones are Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

This week/s two-day summit is one of the biggest events for EU foreign policy in 2013 and the Lithuanian Presidency.

It will gather high-level EU representatives, EU heads of states and governments from EU member states and EaP countries and take stock of what's been achieved so far while discussing further developments beyond 2013.

However, some argue that, following recent events in Ukraine, the time is ripe for a comprehensive revision of the EU/s Neighbourhood Policy.

Launched in 2004, the policy sees millions of euros being pumped into countries like Ukraine and Moldova despite wide-ranging concerns on issues such as the rule of law, judicial and electoral reform and corruption.

The issue is topical as the European Parliament is being asked to adopt a resolution which acknowledges that the ENP has in the past failed to promote human rights in third countries.

In the resolution on the ENP's "eastern dimension", MEPs argue that the EU should, in future, only provide financial support for neighbourhood countries on the strict condition that they undertake domestic reforms and move towards democracy.

The resolution urges EU governments to strengthen their ability to promote democracy and human rights in EaP countries by creating an "implementation mechanism" that makes it easier to suspend agreements with third countries in the event of serious violations of human rights.

MEPs also call for more transparency about how the European Commission gets its brief for negotiating "advanced status" with individual partner countries, and stresses the need for clear criteria for granting this status.

Parliament must be involved in this process, they say.

MEPs say that reform of the ENP policy would help the EU to differentiate between countries that actually enforce democratic reforms and those that do not - and reward those that do with European "perspectives.

In practice, this means that the EU should define new criteria for assessing the countries' overall performance in carrying out democratic reforms.

The resolution advocates a system "where ambition and commitments are followed by implementation and where real progress is followed by concrete steps towards a European perspective".

This European "perspective" could constitute a driving force for reforms in these countries, it adds.

Launched with the Prague Declaration, the EU/s ambitious and forward-looking ENP policy aims to support reforms and bring its Eastern partners closer to the EU while at the same time expecting them to commit themselves to undertaking the necessary political and economic reforms.

The EU Treaty's Article 49 stipulates that 'any European state which respects the values the EU is founded on, namely respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, and is committed to promoting them, may apply to become a member of the Union'.

However, some argue that EaP states still fail to meet these conditions and that continuing concerns about a lack of reform in these countries make it necessary to drastically revise what some say has become a "discredited" ENP policy.

There is, in particular, real concern about a perceived failure to closely monitor the way EU funding to EaP countries is spent "on the ground."

Critics point to EU-funded projects such as the €5 million awarded for the Eastern Partnership Police Cooperation Programme for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

This aims to increase police cooperation on issues related to cross-border crime between EU and Eastern Partnership countries and among Eastern Partnership countries themselves.

One Polish MEP, who did not wish to be named, said, "There is nothing wrong with such projects, of course, but the big problem is that there is insufficient accountability on how EU funding on projects like this - and countless others - is being spent in EaP states. Let/s not forget that we are talking about seriously big sums of money here."

Last year, the EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) supported the Neighbourhood region through 18 projects, three more compared to 2011, for a total NIF contribution of €178.2 million.

That represents a 25% increase in funding compared to 2011. Overall, new approvals by the NIF in 2012 supported projects represented a total investment cost of over €2.2 billion.

To achieve a "stable and predictable" policy framework, the EU also adopted the Eastern Partnership Integration and Cooperation (EaPIC) programme.

This provided additional financial assistance amounting to €130 million for 2011-2013 to Eastern European partner countries for "carrying out the necessary institutional and sector reforms that will accelerate their political association and economic integration with the European Union.”

Given an alleged lack of reform in many of the ENP states, critics question the wisdom of continuing to "lavish" funding on post-Soviet countries like Ukraine and Moldova.

While Ukraine and, in particular, its former PM Yulia Tymoshenko have been grabbing all the headlines of late,critics also cite the current situation in Moldova as another prime example of why ENP policy should be "drastically updated."

Moldova, it should not be forgotten, is poised to move closer to the Union by initialing a political association and free trade pact at this week/s Vilnius summit.

However, it is claimed that two "shady" deals involving billionaire bosses from Dagestan, Russia and a Moldovan bank tarnished by links to the Russia mafia pose fresh questions over the country/s commitment to two important conditions for EU integration - rule of law and transparency.

Indeed, a government transparency commission found that 60 per cent of mayors, vice mayors, president and vice presidents of local councils in Moldova did not bother to submit declarations of income for 2011.

The World Bank, in a report out in October, noted that the state of disrepair in the country/s water and wastewater infrastructure "is such that about 45 per cent of these systems need serious rehabilitation."

The Moldovan parliament recently tabled a bill that would require judges, prosecutors and police officers who carry out criminal investigations to themselves take polygraph tests due to lack of trust in officials/ integrity.

Then there is the breakaway region of Transnistria which declared its independence over 20 years, where Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps thousands of troops.

"Is it right that w? invit? a country that has unr?solv?d t?r?itorial disput? Transnistria to have closer ties with the EU?" asked James Van Cutsem, a seasoned EU observer.

He added, "That/s not all. Arm?nia, Ukrain? and B?larus have, it could be argued, al??ady ?hos?n Russia and Putin/s ?ust?ms Union ahead of the EU. In addition, there is Az?rbaijan wh?r? pow?r is transf?rr?d from fath?r to son and G?orgia, whose government has a nasty habit of imprisoning its former MPs."

Brussels-based journalist Nikolaj Nielsen, who closely follows events in EaP countries, said, "Moldova society is trapped in an old mentality in which students, for instance, are forced to bribe professors to read their PhD theses."

On Ukraine, the UK/s former Europe Minister Denis MacShane said that a government crackdown on media freedom poses a "serious question" about its suitability for EU integration.

He said the EU/s media monitoring survey on the six ENP countries says Ukraine is 2nd bottom in the list just above Armenia.

"This is a long way from the self-proclaimed European status Ukraine claims for itself," he said.

With the big Vilnius get-together just days away, many would say the same could be said of other EaP states currently in receipt of substantial EU funding.