The EU as a Rule of Law Promoter in the ENP

Abstract

This contribution is made at a time when the merging of internal and external security is taking various forms in Europe, in terms of the threat perceptions, the investigation methods and the actors involved (Bigo, 2001; Lutterbeck, 2005). The merging between the two ‘security’ spheres is most prominent in the recent comprehensive foreign policy initiative, European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) (Balzacq, chapter 1, this volume; Wichmann, 2007a). Thus, this chapter deals with the justice and home affairs (JHA) aspects of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) that pursue the objective of promoting the rule of law in ENP countries.

This study is being conducted as a PhD thesis in coordination with the NEWGOV project EU-contract no. CIT1-CT-2004-506392 under the supervision of S. Lavenex. I thank S. Lavenex, N. Klein, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable input. The usual disclaimers apply. It is a slightly revised and updated version of the article ‘Promoting the Rule of Law in the ENP — Strategic or Normative Power in the EU’, which appeared in Politique Européenne (2007), edited by S. Lavenex and F. Mérand (Wichmann 2007b).