World View: In 10 months, during Ireland's presidency, the EU will enter a new phase, writes Gay Mitchell. There will be an enlarged Union of 25 states, with a combined population of more than 450 million and GDP of almost €10,000 billion.
That enlargement will boost EU growth and employment opportunities within a framework of shared values and common respect for fundamental liberties. New patterns in the movement of people, capital, goods and services will increase diversity in culture and traditions. Enlargement will change the shape of relations with other parts of the world.
It will give new impetus to drawing closer the 385 million inhabitants of those countries on the external land and sea border of the Union: Russia, the WNIS (Western Newly Independent States: Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus) and the southern Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia). The accession of new member-states will strengthen the Union's interest in enhancing relations with its new neighbours.
In addition, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav states are, or will be, candidates for EU membership.
A recently published EU Commission document, Wider Europe - Neighbourhood: A New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and Southern Neighbours, states: "Over the coming decade and beyond, the Union's capacity to provide security, stability and sustainable development to its citizens will no longer be distinguishable from its interest in close co-operation with the neighbours."
Both political and economic interdependence is already a reality. Closer geographical proximity means that the new neighbourhood will have an equal stake in furthering efforts to promote transnational flows of trade and investment, as well as working together to tackle trans-boundary threats - from terrorism to air-borne pollution.
The document argues that the EU has a duty, not only to its citizens and those of the new member-states, but also to its present and future neighbours to ensure continuing social cohesion and economic dynamism. It advocates regional and sub-regional co-operation and integration as preconditions for political stability, economic development and the reduction of poverty and social divisions in our shared environment.
Sixty million Europeans died in conflict in the first half of the last century. Peace and stability in Europe and among its neighbours are the essential prerequisites to prosperity. Therefore peace, stability and prosperity are interlinked.
The European Union has selfish as well as selfless reasons for being concerned about its neighbours.
The Euro-Mediterranean partnership offers a strong policy framework for the EU's relations with Mediterranean countries. Since the Barcelona declaration in 1995 it has formed the basis for a continuing dialogue and co- operation in spite of the political turmoil in the region.
As far as the bilateral dimension of EU relations is concerned, the basic framework is similar for both the Mediterranean and eastern groups of countries: association agreements or partnership and co-operation agreements, including political dialogue, are accompanied by national Meda/Tacis programmes and agreements on specific issues such as fisheries.
The most important difference is that in the Mediterranean, an explicit regional dimension encouraging the development of intra-regional initiatives and co-operation in a broad range of sectors is included.
On the future eastern external border, regional economic co-operation among the WNIS is already quite strong, oriented around traditional flows of trade and investment to and from Russia.
However, encouragement for regional political co-operation and/or economic integration has not so far formed a strong component of EU policy towards Russia and the WNIS.
The Northern Dimension currently provides the only regional framework in which the EU participates with its eastern partners to address transnational and cross-border issues. But participation is restricted to Russia.
In the context of a new EU neighbourhood policy, further regional and sub-regional co-operation and integration among the countries of the southern Mediterranean will be strongly encouraged. New initiatives to encourage regional co-operation between Russia and the countries of the WNIS might also be considered.
If a stable and peaceful neighbourly relationship is to evolve the EU member-states must work proactively to enhance the prosperity of our neighbours.
The document recommends that the EU should aim to develop a zone of prosperity and a friendly neighbourhood - a "ring of friends" - with whom the EU enjoys close, peaceful and co-operative relations. In return for concrete progress demonstrating shared values and effective implementation of political, economic and institutional reforms, including aligning of legislation, the EU's neighbourhood should benefit from the prospect of closer economic integration with the European Union.
Promoting good neighbourliness is a wise and welcome policy and should be strongly supported by Ireland.