EU to downgrade neighbourly relations

17 Jul 2006
The Parliament.com
Author: Daisy Ayliffe

Ten North African and Middle Eastern countries will see their EU relations downgraded in a shake up of Brussels’ neighbourhood policy.

Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and Israel will be among those separated from the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) because they will never join the EU, according to the Guardian Europe newspaper.

The controversial move will be spearheaded by the German government when Berlin takes over the rotating EU presidency next January.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to say Brussels is sending out the wrong signal by grouping continental and non-European countries together.

Under the plans, European countries would become part of a new club to encourage membership hopes.

This would include EU hopefuls Ukraine Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Moldova and Belarus may be admitted later, the report suggests.

But the German plans have come under attack from European experts who say Brussels is wrong to demote its relations with the 10 non-European members.

“The problems of North Africa are just as important to the EU as those of Eastern Europe,” Charles Grant, director for the Centre for European Reform, told the newspaper.

“It is wrong to tell North Africa that because they are Muslims and live in sandy places, they can’t be integrated.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.