ABSTRACT
One of the main objectives of the European Security Strategy (ESS) of 2003 was to work towards a secure neighbourhood, because ‘neighbours who are engaged in violent conflict, weak states where organised crime flourishes, dysfunctional societies or exploding population growth on its borders all pose problems for Europe’ (European Council 2003). The development of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) added momentum to the EU’s role in conflict management and resolution by promoting stability and prosperity through the EU’s export of governance models and norms (Lavenex and Schimmelfennig 2010). Inherent in the ENP, is the EU’s support for ‘democratic institution-building as a conflict prevention/resolution instrument’ (Youngs 2004: 531). Although conflict management and resolution gradually gained prominence within the ENP framework and the policy’s revisions (2011 and 2015), the ENP was not designed to address these domains. The revision of the policy in 2011, allocated a more ambitious conflict resolution role to the EU, by making explicit the assumption that many of the instruments used to promote economic integration and sectoral cooperation in the neighbourhood could also be mobilised to support confidence-building and conflict resolution objectives between conflicting parties (Schumacher and Bouris 2017: 19). The most recent revision of the ENP, in November 2015, made clear reference to the need for coordination between the ENP (which has largely focused on instruments related to the Commission’s competencies) and the Common Foreign and Security Policy/Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP/CSDP).
