Negotiating the ENP at Level II: A Three-Stage Process

This chapter analyses the negotiations of the ENP at the intra-EU level and it is divided into three periods. The first period (2002–2006) was marked by negotiations for the tools that the EU would use to promote the preferences of its winning coalitions to the ENP partners. During the second period (2006–2009) the big member states, especially France and Germany, attempted to promote their own initiatives for benefiting particular interests in the East and South neighbouring countries. The last period (2010–2014) is marked by the Arab Spring and it shows that despite the entrepreneurial role of the Commission, the unchanged configuration of power within the EU does not allow significant changes to the EU initiatives.