ABSTRACT
Performance has been a salient issue on the agenda of European policy-makers (European Commission 2013; 2014) and remains a recurrent theme in the European Union’s (EU’s) strategies and policies. The European institutions have placed great emphasis on the performance and ultimate effect of their policies. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) represents a framework of cooperation with the EU’s southern and eastern neighbours. The ring of instability that surrounds the EU from Eastern Europe to the Caucasus, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa raises perennial questions regarding EU performance under the ENP flagship. Initially designed to promote democracy, rule of law, market economy, prosperity and stability, this policy has been reviewed twice – in 2011, in the light of the Arab uprisings; and more recently, in 2015, after Russia’s destabilisation of Ukraine, in the midst of the refugee crisis and soon after the Paris terrorist attacks.
