A new policy for the Neighbourhood

At the EU Summit in Brussels on June 17th and 18th, the European Council endorsed the new Neighbourhood Policy – a policy that will give guidelines as to how the EU works with its neighbours to the east and to the south in the wake of the significant and successful enlargement of the Union in May. This Free to Air Video News Release (VNR) features the EU’s neighbours, Ukraine to the east and Morocco to the south. It investigates what having the EU as a neighbour, and the Neighbourhood Policy, means for these countries. In this news release we visit a Polish-Ukraine border crossing to see what has happened for local traffic since Poland joined the Union and the challenges facing Ukrainian people in border regions. Have the long queues remained? Is the new Europe hurting local cross-border trading? The VNR visits a women’s project in Sambir, Ukraine, designed to promote local business near the Polish border. The report also features the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs who comments on relations with the EU. In Morocco, Europe’s closest southern neighbour, the VNR highlights how the EU and Morocco promote progressive shared values such as the equality of women. The report features Fatima Demnati, one of 450 women involved in an EU- supported enterprise project. Interest-free loans have been provided to buy tools, seeds or livestock – an investment that is making a real difference for this mother of ten. The importance of the agriculture sector in the EU-Moroccan relationship is featured with the potential for increased trade through the development of a new port at the Straits of Gibraltar. The European Neighbourhood Policy is open to all neighbouring countries that undertake political, legal and economic reforms reflecting EU standards. The neighbourhood policy does not offer membership of the EU. It offers a range of incentives, enhanced co-operation and a stake for partner countries in the EU’s Internal Market.

European Commission | June 21, 2004

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