Introduction
Following the finalization of long and controversial divorce process between the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU), namely Brexit, the new concerns arose regarding the future relationship of the Union with a previous member state. EU’s foreign policy toward its western neighbours has been one of the topics of discussions since then. Among other possible policies for the EU in post-Brexit, the question of “whether the EU should launch a new Western Neighbourhood Policy (WNP)” was centre of debate.
Nevertheless, taking historical, cultural, and political factors into account on the one hand, integrational level and ties between the western and eastern neighbours with the EU on the other hand, I argue that building a WNP is unrealistic and inappropriate.
To support the argument, the first paragraph will describe Brexit process. The following paragraph will describe EU’s relationship with Iceland and Norway, two western neighbour countries and show why including aforementioned two neighbours to WNP with the UK would be impossible. In third paragraph, EU’s relationship with eastern neighbours; their diversity; EU’s differentiated foreign policy towards the six and why the EU cannot exercise the similar foreign policy in the west will be provided. In the last paragraph, how the UK’s foreign policy would prevent EU’s common WNP will be analysed. As a conclusion, the inappropriateness and impossibility of the EU’s WNP will be demonstrated due to the significant number of facts alongside with short recommendation for EU’s future policy towards the UK.
Should there be a WNP in post-Brexit?
Having been a member state of the EU for almost five decades, the UK decided to leave the EU as a final result of the public referendum on whether the UK should remain a member state or leave the Union[1]. Years-long negotiation was followed by the Withdrawal Treaty[2]. The end of controversial Brexit process after almost five years of intense negotiation left both sides in uncertainty in several issues such as Northern Ireland Protocol[3]. UK’s ‘cherry-picking’ strategy during the negotiations failed as the EU negotiation team, led by ex-French minister Michel Barnier, prevented it because of the fear that the other member states would follow the suit[4]. Although unpleasant situations occurred between the two, at the end the trade deal which formed the basis of relationship between the EU-UK had been achieved[5].
Following the UK’s departure from the EU, there are concerns whether there should be a WNP of the EU. EU’s relationship with western pre-Brexit neighbours is rather close and based on cultural, economic, and historical ties[6]. Iceland and Norway would be the cases. Public opinion about the EU in these two Nordic countries is similar. Iceland’s political parties and public have been back and forth for many decades whether the country should join the EU which resulted in a negative way so far[7]. When it comes to Norway, even though Norway tried to join the EU, the membership process has been blocked twice in public referendum[8]. However, Iceland and Norway are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), the most integrated version of cooperation with the EU[9]. Building a post-Brexit WNP would mean the inclusion of at least Iceland and Norway along with the UK. Nevertheless, the ‘red lines’[10] that the UK had put ahead throughout the Brexit negotiations would unable an EU policy such as the WNP towards highly integrated western neighbours Iceland and Norway alongside with the previous member state the UK.
On the other hand, EU’s relationship with eastern neighbours is rather complex and based on stability, geopolitical influence, and economic ties to deepen the energy stability[11]. The ENP was an offer to the EU neighbours for deeper political and economic integration under the condition of several reforms or modernization including towards higher level of democracy, rule of law, market-oriented economy and so on based on the principle of ‘more for more’[12]. However, comparing the neighbours individually would make the scene clear as eastern neighbours themselves share different values and interests. For instance, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia aspire joining the EU as they to some extent share EU values of democracy, human rights and rule of law which resulted a candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova recently[13]. On the other hand, Belarus and Armenia frequently find themselves on the Russian side due to economic and security dependency which opposes EU’s policy in eastern neighbourhood[14]. The last eastern neighbour of the EU, Azerbaijan, remains as a key energy security guarantor for the EU since 2006 Russia-Ukraine gas crisis, while demonstrating no aspiration for the EU membership nor sharing many of the EU values due to political, cultural, and historical differences[15]. Taking into consideration both interests and differences in many aspects, and how they shaped the EU’s foreign policy towards the eastern neighbours, it would become an important point to emphasize that the similar pack of policies cannot be exercised towards the western neighbours.
As the EU’s relationship varies from state to state in general, it is highly possible that the UK’s post-Brexit integration with the EU will be based on mutual interests with high priorities to not cross the UK’s ‘red lines’. Furthermore, UK’s ‘Global Britain’[16] ambition restricts EU’s influence on the UK, and it seems unlikely that the UK will integrate closely with the EU which might cause any kind of dependency as the headline of the UK government paper says “our departure from the EU has given us an unprecedented opportunity to forge new alliances and strengthen our partnerships around the world”[17]. In theory it is possible that the EU adopts differentiated western neighbourhood policy, however, in practice it would be reasonable for the EU to build an independent relationship with the UK while keeping other western neighbours, Iceland and Norway, close.
Conclusion
UK’s departure from the EU took a long process of negotiation for concluding the Withdrawal Agreement as well as the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement[18]. As the question of whether there should be a WNP arose, impossibility and inappropriateness of the policy has been presented throughout the paper based on several analyses such as EU’s cultural, economic, and historical ties to the western neighbours; EU’s dependency on eastern neighbours in terms of energy security and stability; the differences of values, interests, and politics. Furthermore, not only EU-concentrated reasons prevent the idea of launching WNP, but also non-EU-concentrated reasons contradict the policy such as UK’s will to be an internationally independent actor. Instead of attempting to have an influence on the UK, the EU should improve rather independent and benefit-based cooperation with the UK and seek to open in larger scale to the Commonwealth world with the assistance of the UK as the latter still holds the significant influence.
Bibliography
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Buonanno, Laurie, and Neill Nugent. Policies and Policy Processes of the European Union. Seconded. The European Union Series. (London: Red Globe Press, 2021)
Goodeve, Emily D. “Iceland and the European Union: An In-Depth Analysis of One of Iceland’s Most Controversial Debates.” (Scandinavian Studies 77, no. 1 2005), 85-104.
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Schumacher, Tobias, Andreas Marchetti, and Thomas Demmelhuber, eds. The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy. (Routledge Handbooks, London: Routledge, 2018), 3-13.
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https://www.eeas.europa.eu/iceland/european-union-and-iceland_en?s=212
Delegation of the European Union to Norway, “The European Union and Norway”. 28 July 2021, accessed 9 September 2022
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/norway/european-union-and-norway_en?s=174
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https://www.efta.int/eea/eea-agreement/eea-basic-features
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https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_22_3822
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European Commission, “The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement”. Accessed 11 September 2022 https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/relations-non-eu- countries/relations-united-kingdom/eu-uk-trade-and-cooperation-agreement_en
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https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/global-britain-delivering-on-our-international-ambition
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https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_belarus_and_armenia_how_russian_handles_uprisings/
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[1] European Commission, “Questions and Answers on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020”. Brussels, 24 January 2020, accessed 9 September 2022,
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_104
[2] EUR-Lex, “Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community”, accessed 9 September 2022,
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1580206007232&uri=CELEX%3A12019W/TXT%2802%29
[3] Buonanno, Laurie, and Neill Nugent. Policies and Policy Processes of the European Union. Seconded. The European Union Series. (London: Red Globe Press, 2021), 75
[4] Ibid.
[5] European Commission, “EU-United Kingdom Trade and Cooperation Agreement”, accessed 9 September 2022,
[6] Delegation of the European Union to Iceland, “The European Union and Iceland”. 22 July 2021, accessed 9 September 2022
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/iceland/european-union-and-iceland_en?s=212
Delegation of the European Union to Norway, “The European Union and Norway”. 28 July 2021, accessed 9 September 2022
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/norway/european-union-and-norway_en?s=174
[7] Goodeve, Emily D. “Iceland and the European Union: An In-Depth Analysis of One of Iceland’s Most Controversial Debates.” (Scandinavian Studies 77, no. 1 2005), 85–104.
[8] Bjørklund, Tor. “Old and New Patterns: The ‘No’ Majority in the 1972 and 1994 EC/EU Referendums in Norway.” (Acta Sociologica 40, no. 2 1997), 143–159.
[9] Agreement on the European Economic Area gives access to the EU single market and the four freedoms, EU regulations must be adopted, and members are subject to the jurisdiction of European Court of Justice (ECJ). Nevertheless, members are allowed to carry out their own trade policies as EEA is not a part of the customs union.
EFTA, “The Basic Features of the EEA Agreement”, accessed 9 September 2022,
https://www.efta.int/eea/eea-agreement/eea-basic-features
[10] UK’s ‘red lines’ included negotiating trade agreements independently, banning free movements provided by single market, avoiding EU regulations as well as the jurisdiction of ECJ.
Buonanno, Laurie, and Neill Nugent. Policies and Policy Processes of the European Union, opt. cit., 75-76.
[11] Whitman, Richard G, and Stefan Wolff. The European Neighbourhood Policy in Perspective : Context, Implementation and Impact. (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Basingstoke England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 5-8
[12] Ibid.
[13] European Commission, “Statement by President von der Leyen on the Commission’s opinions on the EU membership applications by Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia”. Brussels, 17 June 2022, accessed 10 September 20220
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_22_3822
[14] Gustav Gressel, et al., “Belarus and Armenia: How Russia handles uprisings”. European Council on Foreign Relations, 16 September 2020, accessed 10 September 2022
https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_belarus_and_armenia_how_russian_handles_uprisings/
[15] Mannin, Mike, and Paul Flenley, eds. The European Union and Its Eastern Neighbourhood: Europeanisation and Its Twenty-First-Century Contradictions. (Manchester International Relations, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018), 157-159.
[16] ‘Global Britain’ is a post-Brexit plan of the UK. In a simplest way, “Global Britain is about reinvesting in our relationships, championing the rules-based international order and demonstrating that the UK is open, outward-looking and confident on the world stage”
GOV.UK, “Global Britain: delivering on our international ambition.” 13 June 2018, last updated 23 September 2019, accessed 11 September 2022
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/global-britain-delivering-on-our-international-ambition
[17] UK Government, The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is Taking Advantage of Leaving the EU? (January, 2022), accessed 11 September 2022
[18] European Commission, “The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement”. Accessed 11 September 2022 https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/relations-non-eu-countries/relations-united-kingdom/eu-uk-trade-and-cooperation-agreement_en