The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was originally conceived in 2004 to foster stability, security and prosperity in Europe’s surrounding regions. This article argues that the ENP has been superseded by facts on the ground, including poverty, conflict, and climate change, which will continue to threaten EU internal and neighbourhood interests. It promotes clarity on a European interest and allied international interests which can better effect positive change, especially in human security, gender equality and prosperity

Robert Mason is Associate Professor and Director of the Middle East Studies Center at The American University in Cairo. His most recent publication is Reassessing Order and Disorder in the Middle East: Regional Imbalance or Disintegration? (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).