The European Union faces a double strain: to stabilize its borders and to avoid the issue of inclusion as the last word in relations with its new neighbors. What are, in effect, the geographical limits of Europe's expansion, from an institutional and political standpoint ? Can the Union prescribe the "Europeanization" of its periphery without offering the prospect of integration ? What influence does the European Union have on its closest neighbors who don't take part in the expansion ?

An analysis of the European Neighborhood Policy, its reception by the nations concerned (the Ukraine, Georgia, Moldovia, the Balkans, the Mediterranean states, Turkey) and an illumination of the issues to which Europe must respond, from the Russian border to Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

An internationally recognized specialist on Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, as well as a former advisor of Czech President Vaclav Havel, Jacques Rupnik is Director of Research at CERI and teaches at Sciences Po.

Contributors : Esther Barbé, Florent Parmentier, Silvia Serrano, Anne de Tinguy and Mario Zucconi