mr president ensuring a stable and prosperous neighbourhood is the first priority of european foreign policy
it is in its neighbourhood that the eu can best exercise its soft stabilising power
it is also there that it needs to assess strategies and possibly replace them with other more relevant forms of engagement
according to the enpi regulation the objective of the instrument is to provide community assistance for the development of an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness
however the enpi should reflect better the needs and challenges
if the eu wants to be seen not just as a cash cow but as a real regional power it will also need to prove itself able to help resolve conflicts through this work and in the neighbourhood
stability and prosperity are periodically threatened by the resurgence of unresolved conflicts
these undermine to a great extent the eu's multilateral initiatives both in the east for instance in the caucasus and in the south the middle east and western sahara for example
the eu's ambition to resolve and step up its role should be realised and tailor-made assistance in these regions should be directed at confidence building and reconciliation as well
the focus on bilateral relations has made it difficult for the union to act as a mediator in conflicts
the eu should really focus more on multilateral cooperation no matter how difficult it is as commissioner füle stated
the regional approach should be stronger and more visible
it should be combined also with enhanced cooperation among the partner countries themselves especially among the neighbouring ones
for example the degree of cooperation integration in the eu eastern neighbourhood is quite low
there are reasons for this there are difficulties with this but we should act together to overcome them
the cbc black sea initiative seems not to be enough to address all this
the definition of the cross-border cooperation aim is to promote economic and social development in border areas address common challenges ensure efficient and secure borders and promote people-to-people cooperation
better coordination should also be ensured between the enpi and the cross-border cooperation programmes and the national enpi action plan
there should be careful consideration about the real added value of every enpi initiative otherwise the eu risks getting involved and even getting lost in the obligation and overlapping which currently happens often with a number of community programmes
commissioner füle has given us some reassurances in this respect
consultation of stakeholders and closer work with the committee on regional development in parliament should help
we should work together for more effective and visible results
