1
I. The EU and Conflict at its External Borders:
The European Union’s external borders are burdened by a number of serious
border conflicts. Only last year, Morocco and Spain nearly came to blows in a territorial
dispute over Perejil Islet in the Strait of Gibraltar, imitating Greece and Turkey who also
had narrowly averted war over another piece of rock in the Aegean Sea in 1996. If a
solution is not speedily found by May next year, the divided island of Cyprus will become
an EU member. Added to these concerns are the future of Kaliningrad as an enclave
surrounded by EU territory when Poland and Lithuania officially become members next
year, and the contested borders between Baltic States and Russia.
How, and under what conditions, can the EU contribute to a successful resolution
of these conflicts at its external borders?
1
This question carries a lot of policy significance
nowadays in EU circles, mainly because the continued existence of these disputes reflects
badly on the EU’s stated missions to export peace and become a foreign policy actor in
and of its own right.
2
However, I am mostly interested in this question because of its
theoretical significance. As I will be arguing in this paper, the status of border conflicts
around the external borders of the EU and role played by the EU in relation to these
conflicts have a lot to say about the nature of the collectivity that the EU is set to become.
In addition, the unique standing of the EU among other international organizations
intimately links this debate on the EU with the broader question of what kinds of
community are possible in international relations.
1
This is the central guiding question of the EU Fifth Framework Project,
EUBORDERCONF, that I am currently working for as a research fellow. The project,
titled ‘The European Union and Border Conflicts: the Impact of Integration and
Association,’ seeks to understand whether, and how, the EU, though integration and
association can help transform the nature of borders from lines of conflict to lines of
cooperation. More information about the project objectives, partners, and research output
can be found at the project web-site
http://www.euborderconf.bham.ac.uk.
For the
theoretical framework guiding the project, see Mathias Albert, Thomas Diez and Stephan
Stetter, ‘The European Union and Border Conflicts: Conceptual Clarifications’ Paper
presented at the 27
th
Annual Conference of the British International Studies Association,
(London, 16-18 December 2002), and Stephan Stetter, Thomas Diez, and Mathias Albert,
‘The European Union and the Transformation of Border Conflicts: Theorising the Impact
of Integration and Association.’ Paper presented at the CEEISA/ISA Convention,
(Budapest, 26-28 June 2003).
2
Oliver P. Richmond, ‘Emerging Concepts of Security in the European Order:
Implications for ‘Zones of Conflict’ at the Fringes of the EU’, European Security, 9:1
(2000), pp. 41-67.
Convention