Paper Titles & Abstracts

The Commission's communication 'A new response to a changing neighbourhood' published in May 2011 has heralded the beginning of a new approach to the use of conditionality in EU external assistance. Never before has the EU in such an explicit way underlined its commitment to tie its financial support to the progress of its neighbours in consolidating democracy and the rule of law, emphasising its readiness to cut its aid in case of regress. But how and to what extent will the EU's new approach to conditionality be reflected in its new financial aid instruments for the period 2014 to 2020? In order to provide an answer the paper traces back the process of the negotiations within the Council leading to the Council's negotiating position on the new European Neighbourhood Instrument regulation for the period 2014 to 2020. It starts with an overview of member states' different approaches to the use of conditionality in EU development assistance. Particular attention is given to the position of the Central and Eastern EU member states. This choice seems reasonable when taking into account that they usually advocate a tougher application of conditionality and account for almost fifty percent of the votes in the Council. In a second step, the paper highlights in what regard the Council's approach to conditionality as included in its negotiating position differs from the new approach adopted by the Commission. Finally, it demonstrates which member states have managed to successfully influence the Council's negotiating position according to their preferences.