The Influence of EU Member States on European Neighbourhood Policy

Analysing the influence of EU member states on European Neighbourhood Policy, this study firstly refers to the European and regional identities of the selected EU member states, Germany, France and Poland. Secondly, it focuses on their different regional concepts – the European Ostpolitik of Germany, the Mediterranean Union of France and the Eastern Partnership of Poland – and the EU member states’ modes of interaction during the European negotiations that took place between 2006 and 2009. Thirdly, it considers the effects of this debate on the ENP. In doing so, it takes into account on-going discussions in the broader European context of deepening and widening the EU, of models of differentiated integration and the question of a European foreign policy. The analysis combines the theories of constructivism, new institutionalism and Europeanisation and is based on a methodological triangulation of discourse analysis and expert interviews.