SECURITY STRAINS IN THE EU EASTERN NEIGHBOURHOOD IN THE LIGHT OF A LOOMING EU FOREIGN POLICY.

The EU addresses security threats for the Eastern partners both through a dedicated policy created in 2004, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and through corresponding instruments included in the Common and Security Policy (CSDP). The latest ENP review in November 2015 and the forthcoming CSDP review from June 2016 are expected to bring more junctions between the two policies to the benefit of the fragile Post-Soviet space. This article aims to determine the configuration of current EU involvement in conflict resolution in the Eastern Neighbourhood through available ENP and CSDP instruments as well as to identify expected evolutions on the matter. The research is based on the analysis of EU official documents (strategy papers, European Commission decisions, and declarations) and secondary reports, as well as on personal interpretation and collection of available statistical data. We first aim to trace the provisions of the ENP towards security over time and their evolution under the successive ENP reviews. In addition, we attempt to tackle features of the founding principles of the ENP as related to recent sovereignty breaches in the Eastern Neighbourhood. The second part of the research focuses on the CSDP overview and its peace keeping instruments for the neighbourhood, while the last section is a description of protracted/active conflicts in the Eastern neighbourhood, with a focus on EU intervention in conflict resolution. By enhancing its role of security provider on the international arena, the EU would gain, we consider, not only loyalty of its Eastern Neighbours, but also a higher share of peaceful trading relations and mutual benefits, that it so much craved for over a decade ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]