Integration, membership, and the EU neighbourhood

Abstract

This article addresses the operation of integration both inside and outside the EU and the ways in which the EU’s internal integration, built upon foundations of common values, mutual trust and solidarity, interacts with integration in the EU’s neighbourhood, built – according to Article 8 TEU – on the EU’s values and good neighbourliness. Can we identify not only the rights and privileges but also the character of EU membership by reflecting on ‘integration without membership’ in its neighbourhood? The paper reflects from both an internal and external perspective, first, on the continuing evolution of the principles governing the EU’s relations with its neighbours, and second, on how these might throw light on the legal principles at the heart of EU membership. The focus is on two central principles – mutual trust and conditionality – and the ways in which they structure both internal (intra-EU) and external (neighbourhood) relationships of integration.