The threats facing the EU in its geographical neighbourhood

The enlarged EU is confronted with a great variety of threats, risks and hazards potentially coming from its periphery. These, however, are quite different from the traditional ones of the past, and interact with one another in changeable and sometimes unpredictable ways. In turn, also the new neighbourhood of the EU includes very diverse situations and players, which require specific tools to be addressed. There is no single threat/risk/hazard coming from the broader neighbourhood that can be effectively tackled with a one-size-fits-all approach or through only one of the many policies the EU can resort to neither the ENP proper, nor SSR, not even ESDP, in whichever of its variants. The Union should overcome the persistent fragmentation of its policy instruments. It needs better coordination and more coherence between its different bodies and competences, and it must also acquire a broader view (geographically as well as functionally) of the root causes of its old and new vulnerabilities.