The European Union (EU) attaches great importance to its European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), which is vital for the EU to continue to promote regional and sub-regional cooperation among its neighbors, said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, on Monday.
"The ENP has spurred the (EU) member states to think harder about the future of the whole of this corner of our planet, and the need to address our common challenges now," said Barroso in a speech at the two-day first ministerial-level European Neighborhood Policy Conference in Brussels, which opened on Monday.
The EU member states have provided more money for ENP assistance programs, and there are new opportunities for closer cooperation between the EU and the countries covered by the ENP, he said.
According to figures provided by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, between 2007 and 2013, 12 billion euros (16.4 billion U.S. dollars) will be devoted to ENP countries, over 30 percent more than in the previous budget period.
Barroso stressed that the fundamental principle of the ENP is differentiation.
"The ENP is not, and never has been, a one-size-fits-all policy. There are as many variations of ENP as there are partners. We cannot and do not wish to ignore the differences between our partners," he added.
"As a political entity composed of 27 different nation states and therefore 27 different ways of organizing our societies, we in the EU are the last people to expect or demand homogeneity," he said.
He reiterated that the EU is committed to the idea that each country shapes its relations with the EU "individually."
In 2004, the EU adopted the ENP to support its partners' political, economic and social reform processes and to deepen bilateral relations with them. During 2005 and 2006, ENP Action Plans were agreed with 10 partners, setting out agreed reform priorities.
The ENP countries are Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine.
In December 2006, the Commission reported on progress to date, noting that the policy was already making a significant contribution to deepening relations and strengthening ties between the EU and its neighbors.
The Commission also made proposals as to how the policy could be further strengthened, especially on economic integration, mobility, energy and more financial and technical assistance.
The ENP conference, which draws ministers from EU members and its partner countries, will discuss these proposals.
Barroso described the EU-ENP nations as "a case of more for more."
"The closer you want to be to the EU, and the greater your commitment to reform, the more we will offer you in terms of both assistance to reach those goals, and opportunities to expand and deepen our relations," he said.
"It is vital for us to ensure that bilateral relations promoted under the ENP, and the regional and sub-regional approaches already mentioned, complement each other," he added.
Source: Xinhua
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