EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 03.04.2008 
COM(2008) 164 final 
  
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSI ON TO THE PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 
Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2007 
 
{SEC(2008) 391} {SEC(2008) 392} {SEC(2008) 393} {SEC(2008) 394} {SEC(2008) 395} {SEC(2008) 396} {SEC(2008) 397} 
{SEC(2008) 398} 
{SEC(2008) 399} {SEC(2008) 400} {SEC(2008) 401} {SEC(2008) 402} {SEC(2008) 403}  
 
 
EN 2   EN 1. CONTEXT  
Over the last few years, the European Ne ighbourhood Policy (ENP) has enabled the EU and 
its partners to make clear progress in deepeni ng their cooperation and in targeting it better at 
the needs and ambitions of partners. The ENP is  gradually establishing itself as a mutually 
beneficial partnership for reform and developmen t, helping our neighbours to come closer to 
the EU, bringing new benefits to their and ou r citizens and promoting regional integration 
beyond the borders of the Union . The present Communication provides an overview of 
developments in the EU’s relations with the neighbours that are encompassed by the ENP1. It 
covers the period since November 20062. The Commission Communication of December 
20073 identified the areas where the EU side n eeds to do more, notably on trade and economic 
integration, mobility, or addr essing regional conflicts.  
The structures and instruments, in the frame of which dialogue and cooperation takes place, 
are now well developed. These are discussed in section 2. More importantly, the relations between the EU and its partners are increasing ly intensive, supporting a broad agenda for the 
adoption and implementation of EU-oriented re forms in many countries and across a wide 
range of sectors. Section 3 provides a summar y of the substantial pr ogress made by partner 
countries, as well as the areas where further e fforts are required. More detailed information 
can be found in the country-specific Progress Re ports and the Sectoral Progress Report which 
are attached as staff working documents. In th e light of the political, economic, social and 
cultural diversity among ENP partners, and because  there are variations in the sequencing and 
prioritisation of their reforms, these reports are not directly comparable. The analysis of 
progress on governance contained in the present Communication a nd its annexes will be the 
basis for the decision on the 2008 Governance Facility allocations. Section 4 addresses 
multilateral developments concerning the EU and its partners. Conclusions regarding the further development of bilateral EU relations wi th partner countries ar e drawn in Section 5.  
2. T
HE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK  
Contractual relations: With the countries covered by the ENP, except Belarus, Libya and 
Syria, Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (in the East) and Association Agreements (in 
the South) have been concluded.  
Building on the strong progress achieved previously, in Ma rch 2007 the EU and Ukraine 
opened negotiations on a new Enhanced Agreement (NEA) aiming to draw Ukraine significantly closer by supporting further internal reforms, in tegrating the Ukrainian economy 
progressively in the internal market and going beyond the Partnership and Cooperation 
Agreement and the EU-Ukraine Action Plan wher ever possible. Since then seven rounds of 
negotiations have taken place and both sides are heavily i nvolved in developing a new 
ambitious framework for their growing relatio nship. Following the finalisation of Ukraine’s 
WTO accession process in February 2008, negotiati ons were launched in the same month on a 
deep and comprehensive free trade area as a core element of the NEA. 
                                                
 
1 Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Republic of 
Moldova, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Syri a, Tunisia, and Ukraine.  For reasons of brevity 
the term “partner countries” will be used hereafter to include also the occupied Palestinian territory. 
2 COM(2006) 726. 
3 COM(2007) 774. 
 
EN 3   EN In October 2007, the Council adopted new conc lusions on Libya requesting the Commission 
to submit draft negotiating directives with a view  to a future EU-Libya framework agreement. 
The Commission presented these in February 2008. The EU offers a full partnership with 
Belarus provided that Belarus takes concrete and convincing steps towa rds democratisation, 
respect for human rights and the rule of law. St eps by the Belarusian authorities to address the 
country’s democratic governance shortcomings remain limited, and it has so far not been 
possible to make progress toward s such a partnership. At the same time, contacts at the 
technical level on issues of mutual interest are being encouraged. EU -Syria relations are 
governed by a 1977 Co-operation Agreement pendi ng the signature of the draft Association 
Agreement.  
Action Plans:  Following the adoption of action plans with Armenia (November 2006), 
Azerbaijan (November 2006), Georgia (November 2006), Lebanon (January 2007), and Egypt (March 2007), a total of twelve countries have now chosen to develop their relations with the 
EU using this tool to accompany domestic re forms and the strengthening of bilateral and 
regional cooperation. As regards Algeria, a po licy dialogue has been taken up in numerous 
working groups and sub-Committees on the basi s of its Association Agreement. At the 
Association Council of March 2008 it was decided to establish a joint work programme to set 
priorities for the implementation of the Association Agreement. 
The first Action Plans entered into force in early 2005. Three of them (Ukraine, the Republic 
of Moldova and Israel) had an initial time horiz on of three years. As these countries have 
made significant advances and their relations w ith the EU are currently under review, with a 
view to substantially deepeni ng them, cooperation continues, at present and for pragmatic 
reasons, on the basis of these Action Plans . 
3. T
HE DOMESTIC REFORM AGENDA IN PARTNER COUNTRIES  
Political dialogue and reform 
The political reform processes, while sharing im portant core principles , are different in the 
various countries under the ENP, reflecting the commitments that they have made in this 
respect. In the east, all ENP pa rtners that have agreed Action  Plans are members of the OSCE 
and the Council of Europe, whic h contributes to a particular reform agenda aiming at close 
approximation to the fundamental standards pr evailing in the EU. The implementation of 
reforms in most countries of the region also took place against a background of economic growth and relative stability. In  the south, the reform agenda is based on the agreed values 
enshrined in the Barcelona Declaration and ta kes these and UN commitments as benchmarks. 
In many countries that have yet to meet thes e standards fully, political reform is slow-moving. 
In the case of Lebanon and the occupied Palestin ian territory, the politi cal context has as yet 
not allowed Action Plan objectives to be meani ngfully addressed, despite noticeable efforts. 
More generally, the political dialogue and re form agenda of the ENP partners is highly 
differentiated and the following remarks need to be considered with reference to the 
individual Action Plan s and progress reports. 
A number of countries, in particular the Re public of Moldova and Armenia, are introducing 
reforms  to strengthen their democratic institutions . This includes, in the case of the Republic 
of Moldova, legislative measures related to pa rliamentary reform and local self-government, 
and, in the case of Armenia, the separation of powers, including in creased powers for the 
National Assembly and improved local self-gov ernment. Morocco has become a member of 
 
EN 4   EN the Venice Commission of the Council of Eu rope. It made progr ess on the judicial 
accountability of members of th e government and on local se lf-government reform. Egypt 
introduced a package of Constitutional amendm ents with a view, among other things, to 
ending the State of Emergency by July 2008. Jord an adopted a new Municipalities law that 
foresees the direct election of  municipal council members and mayors (except in Amman) and 
thus made progress in promoting local democrac y. Relations between parliaments can play an 
important role in further developing parlia mentary culture. The European Parliament’s 
intentions, as expressed in its November 2007 report on ENP, to strengthen its cooperation 
with partner country parl iaments will be a major factor in this regard. 
Elections , whether presidential, legislative, or lo cal, were held in a number of partner 
countries. These have provided important signals  regarding the development of democracy. In 
the Republic of Moldova,  local elections in June 2007 were generally well administered and 
offered voters a genuine choice , although some shortcomings we re noted, in particular in 
respect of equitable access to the media for al l candidates. Following th e elections to Egypt’s 
upper chamber, the EU Presidency  issued a statement expressing certain concerns about their 
conduct. In the September 2007 legislative elections, Morocco made progress on the 
transparency of the electoral process and on allo wing political contestant s access to media. In 
Ukraine , despite the controversy su rrounding the calling of pre-term  parliamentary elections, 
a consolidation of the democratic process was achieved in 2007. The elections were assessed 
to have taken place mostly in line with inte rnational standards for democratic elections. 
Jordan’s parliamentary electi ons in November 2007 were held  under legislation that falls 
short of some international standards. Jordan  did not accept international electoral observers. 
In Georgia, the proposal to delay the Presidenti al elections to the autumn of 2008 led to civil 
unrest and the imposition of a state of emergenc y. In response to the concerns that these 
events raised, Presidenti al elections were held in January  2008. These revealed a number of 
deficiencies in the electoral process, includ ing unbalanced media exposure of candidates, use 
of state resources for campaign purposes, reported acts of voters' intimidation, and 
irregularities in the c ounting and tabulation. They will need to be addres sed if Georgia is to 
achieve the Action Plan objectives in the area of political reform . In Armenia the Presidential 
elections in February 2008 were conducted mostly  in line with inte rnational standards. 
However, the lack of a clear separation betwee n state and party functions and the need for 
equal access of the candidates to the media were  mentioned as concerns  to be tackled. There 
were also concerns regarding th e state of emergency that was introduced in the aftermath of 
the elections. 
Voter turnout can in some cases be an indicato r of the level of conf idence among citizens that 
they can exercise influence through the ballot box. In the elections referred to above the rates 
of participation were: Republic  of Moldova – 52%, Egypt – 31%, Ukraine – 63%, Morocco – 
37%, Jordan – 54%, Georgia – 56% and Armenia – 69%. 
Several countries (notably Ar menia, Georgia, the Republic  of Moldova, and Morocco) 
introduced measures to strengthen the independence and transparency of the judiciary, a key 
element of political reform . The overall level of  corruption  remains worrying in most partner 
countries. Georgia, the Republic  of Moldova, Morocco and Ukraine adopted countermeasures 
such as anti-corruption screening of legisl ation before its adoption, obligatory assets 
declarations for high officials, or awareness ra ising. Limited steps toward the establishment of 
a transparent, accountable and effective publi c administration were taken in Armenia, 
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, the occu pied Palestinian territory and Ukraine.  
 
EN 5   EN As concerns human rights and fundamental freedoms,  Jordan (December 2006) acceded to the 
Optional Protocol (OP) on the Sale of Childre n, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography of 
the Convention on the Rights of  the Child. Egypt (in Februa ry 2007) and Jordan (in May 
2007) acceded to the OP on Children in Armed C onflicts of the same Convention. Georgia, 
the Republic of Moldova, Morocco and Ukraine also made progres s toward the ratification of 
a number of international conventions. Measures  to strengthen institu tions responsible for 
monitoring and defending human rights were taken by a number of countri es: the role of the 
Ombudsperson was strengthened in Armenia and Azerbaijan; a National Preventive 
Mechanism under the OP to the Convention agai nst Torture is being established in the 
Republic of Moldova; in Egypt, the National Council for Human Rights adopted a national 
plan of action for the promotion and protection of human rights. 
Ukraine (July 2007) acceded to the second OP (Abolition of the Death Penalty) of the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Ri ghts. A number of countries maintained their 
de facto moratoria on capital punishment , and Jordan also reduced th e number of crimes that 
carry capital punishment. Cases of torture and ill-treatment  continue to be reported in most 
partner countries, although with very different  levels of frequency and severity. Incidents 
often occur in pre-trial detention and prison facilities. There was some progress in the 
prevention of torture and ill-treatment, for inst ance in Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and 
Ukraine. Tunisia and Morocco made some progr ess in the prosecution of perpetrators. There 
are concerns about the independence of the media and freedom of expression  in many ENP 
partner countries. Armenia made progre ss in improving the fr eedom of the media . Progress 
has been made on gender issues  in a number of countries: in Egypt, Female Genital 
Mutilation has been formally prohibited; in Mo rocco, an amendment to the Nationality Code 
allows the transmission of nationality through th e mother; and in Tunisia, the procedure to 
ratify the OP of the Convention on the Elimin ation of All Forms of Discrimination against 
Women has been initiated. The participation of  women in political life has advanced in 
Jordan, the Republic of Moldova  and Morocco. Steps to improve  the conditions of national  
minorities  were taken in Georgia, through the implementation of a civic integration 
programme, in the Republic of Moldova, with the adoption of an Action Plan to support the 
Roma population, and in Ukraine, which rati fied the European Convention on Nationality. 
Regarding core labour rights , the ratification and implementa tion of ILO conventions remains 
problematic in a number of partner countries. 
As concerns the settlement of regional conflicts , the EU maintains an open dialogue with all 
partner countries. The Republic of Moldova an d Ukraine cooperated closely with the EU on 
questions related to the Transnistria settlem ent efforts. The mandate of the EU Border 
Assistance Mission to Mol dova and Ukraine (EUBAM) was extended until end-November 
2009. In the occupied Palestinian territory, the police training missi on EU POL COPPS was 
reactivated and EU Ministers indicated their readiness to redeploy the border monitoring 
mission EU BAM Rafah as soon as conditions allow. In Georgia, the implementation of a 
package of confidence-building measures in Abkhazia and South Ossetia began in autumn 
2007; however results on the path to the settleme nt of these conflicts are very limited. Despite 
an informal meeting between the Presidents  of Armenia and Azerbaijan in June 2007, 
progress on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karaba kh conflict is also lim ited. Egypt and Jordan 
played an important role in the re-launching of the Arab Peace Initiative, including through 
their participation in the Arab League’s follo w up committee and at the Annapolis meeting in 
November 2007. Negotiations on the status of th e Western Sahara were recently re-launched, 
but so far there has been little progress. 
 
EN 6   EN Finally, most ENP partner countries are gi ving increased attention to improving the 
management of their migratory flows and to deepen the cooperation with the EU on this 
important policy. 
Socio-economic reform 
Regarding  macroeconomic developments , most ENP partner count ries registered high 
economic growth in 2007. In the Republic of Mo ldova, growth slowed down somewhat due to 
the consequences of a serious drought. In Moro cco agricultural output was also affected by 
drought. In Lebanon political in stability damaged the econom y. Countries with important 
energy-sector revenues, notably Azerbaijan , experienced the highest growth rates. 
Government budget deficits and overall inde btedness generally remained manageable. 
Inflation rose in most countries, largely owi ng to global commodity pr ice increases, but the 
rate of monetary expansion is a concern in some cases. Bilateral trade between the EU and ENP partners increased substa ntially, thus strengt hening our relation s, while the trade 
balances and the current account deficits of mo st partner countries de teriorated. Increased 
foreign direct investment is financing the defici ts in a number of cases. Israel and Jordan saw 
improvements in their trade balance.
 In the case of Jordan, the large trade deficit with the EU 
nevertheless requires continued attention. Azer baijan and Algeria recorded budget and trade 
surpluses. Israel sustained its substantial growth rate , significantly reduced  its public debt and 
brought the government deficit cl ose to balance. The EU’s pos ition as the principal trading 
partner of ENP countries was fu rther consolidated in 2007, notably with  the accession of 
Bulgaria and Romania.  
Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, and T unisia made progress in improving their business 
environment, through measures such as the simp lification of company re gistration procedures, 
reduction of licensing fees, or the introduction of “one-stop shops”. The Euro-Mediterranean 
Charter for Enterprise to which most of the Southern partner countries have acceded has 
underpinned this process. However, this has not yet led to increased fore ign direct investment 
in all cases, particularly among some Mediterranean ENP partne rs. In Egypt, Georgia and the 
Republic of Moldova, foreign direct investment reached record levels in 2007.  
Most ENP countries have substantial in formal economies, and economic governance 
generally needs to be improved. Despite relatively high rates of economic growth  most ENP 
partners have been cont ending with high rates of unemployment , particularly among the 
young in the Mediterranean ENP c ountries. Israel and Ukraine saw a gradual reduction of 
unemployment. A key challenge is the promo tion of decent working conditions. Despite 
efforts in some countries, the role of women in social and economic life has not improved 
significantly.  
The Commission will publish its Economic Review of EU Neighbour Countries in June 2008. 
Sectoral reform 
An overview of progress in other policy areas of the ENP Action Plans, as well as some 
governance and economic indicators, can be fou nd in the Sectoral Progress Report in annex. 
Generally, ENP partner countries made further progress in the tr ansformation of their sectoral 
policies, adopting strategies and taking steps on  their path of reform and modernisation and 
their integration with the EU economy and market. They introduced new legislation and 
strengthened their ins titutional capacities. Secondary legi slation and the administrative 
capacity to implement the reforms continue to be  the main challenge. Pr ogress varied in speed 
 
EN 7   EN and depth both between countries and between s ectors. In several ENP partner countries an 
increasing commitment to adapt national legislation to EU la w can be observed, in varying 
degrees and depending on the sector.  Moreover,  EC financial assistance has increasingly 
become policy-driven and focused on the reform priorities agreed in the ENP Action Plans. 
In a number of policy areas, progress can only be made over time; therefore, the progress 
report regularly points to ongoing measures as well as to accomplished modernisation steps. 
In all areas, the policy dialogue between the EC and ENP partner countries was further 
intensified. 
Sectoral policy dialogue is a cr ucial platform for the “partner ship-for-reform” that the ENP 
entails. The process of creating a public admi nistration that responds to the needs and rights 
of citizens – providing one-stop-shop business registration; citizen-oriented and corruption-
free police or customs services; effective port management facilitating commerce and 
transport; or access to environmental information;  to give but a few examples – represents, if 
it is sustained, a strong political contributi on to good governance and the rule of law.  
4. MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENTS  
In November 2005 the Barcelona  Summit adopted a five-yea r work programme and in 
November 2006, at the Ministeria l Meeting held in Tampere, Euro-Mediterran ean partners 
adopted a work programme fo r 2007. During 2007, the work done in the four chapters of 
cooperation was considerable and the bilate ral policy dialogue conducted within the 
framework of the ENP continued to contribu te to fostering progress towards regional 
cooperation in many areas. Most of the 21 initia tives agreed in Tampere were implemented by 
the end of 2007. A new set of in itiatives for 2008 was agreed at the Euro-Mediterranean 
Ministerial held in Lisbon in November 2007. Th e political and security dialogue focused on 
a regular review of the political situation in the Middle East, the implementation of the Code 
of Conduct on countering terrorism, the deepen ing of the dialogue on  ESDP and security 
issues, the launching of a regiona l dialogue on joint cooperation in the area of elections and 
initiatives related to civil society, human rights and democracy. In the area of economic 
cooperation, progress was made on financial coope ration in the framework of the Facility for 
Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partne rship (FEMIP), the creation of a Euro-
Mediterranean network of public finance expert s, negotiations on servi ces and the right of 
establishment and the setting up of a group of High Officials to  further work on the objective 
of a Free Trade Area by 2010 and beyond. Dialogue was also pursued in a broad range of 
sectors, including environmental challenges facing Mediterranean  partners. In the field of 
energy, the Euro-Mediterranean Energy Minister ial endorsed a priority action plan for 2008-
2013 in December 2007. Regarding the cultural a nd human dimension, a greater involvement 
of civil society was pursued. Dialogue focused on issues such as the role of women in society, 
higher education and scientific researc h, and the information society. The politi cal dialogue 
with ENP partners was also strengthened following the Africa-EU Summit in Lisbon in 
December 2007, which adopted a joint African-EU Strategy and a first Action Plan and will 
create further synergies in relations betw een the EU and African partner countries 
respectively. 
In March 2008, the European Council approve d the principle of a Union for the 
Mediterranean which will include the Memb er States of the EU and the non-EU 
Mediterranean coastal states. It invited th e Commission to present to the Council the 
necessary proposals for defining the modalities of  what will be called "Barcelona Process: 
 
EN 8   EN Union for the Mediterranean" with a view to the Summit which will take place in Paris on 13 
July 2008. The Commission will table these proposal s swiftly and in this  process also carry 
out consultations with the Southern neighbours  
In a Communication of April 2007 the Commi ssion spelled out the Black Sea Synergy 
initiative as a response to challenges and opportunities requir ing the enhancement of Black 
Sea regional cooperation. This initiative takes advantage of the accession of Bulgaria and 
Romania to the EU and Turkey's accession proc ess, and it is complementary to the mainly 
bilateral efforts under the ENP and the other po licies applied in the region. It offers a new 
regional cooperation platform involving the EU, Tu rkey, all Eastern ENP pa rtners with agreed 
Action Plans and the Russian Federation. Fo llowing the endorsement of the Black Sea 
Synergy by the Council, the Commission began im plementing a series of concrete measures, 
mainly in the fields of energy, transport, envi ronment, fishery, migration and the development 
of civil society. The Commission acquired observer stat us in, and developed working links 
with, the Organization of the Black Sea Ec onomic Cooperation (BSEC). A meeting of the 
Foreign Ministers of the EU and of Black S ea Synergy partners took place in Kyiv on 14 
February 2008. The meeting adopted a Joint Stat ement, launching the Black Sea Synergy as a 
common, long-term endeavour. In June 2008 the Commission will present a review to the 
Council on the first year of  the Black Sea Synergy. 
5. FURTHER EVOLUTION OF EU RELATIONS WITH PARTNER COUNTIES  
Further evolution in Action Plans  
In its February 2008 Conclusions, the Council underl ined the central role of Action Plans in 
advancing the objectives of the European Ne ighbourhood Policy. The progress reported on in 
the present Communication amply s upports this assessment. Action Plans have been central in 
giving operational substance to th e contractual relations between the EU and its partners and 
are also becoming important re ference points for the donor co mmunity. As these relations 
deepen and as some objectives are achie ved while new ones are agreed upon, it will be 
necessary to adapt these tools accordingly. Th e Action Plans themselves make provision for 
this adaptation, which will allow the increased am bitions of the parties to be reflected in a 
document that serves to organise their joint wo rk. The Commission consid ers that such tools, 
whatever they may be called, will also continue to be useful in the c ontext of new contractual 
agreements to be concluded with ENP partners. 
The experience gained so far during the implemen tation of the first gene ration of Action Plans 
suggests that future adaptations should lead to documents that are more closely calibrated to 
the partner countries’ specific am bitions and capacities, reflectin g the differentiated relations 
of the EU with its partners, whilst also promoting achievable st eps towards regulatory 
convergence with EU legislation and standards. This differentia tion will also lead to greater 
ownership on the part of the partner countries.  
The principal features of Action Plans, namely  that they are relativ ely specific, time-bound 
and action-oriented, need to be preserved and improved. A clearer sequencing of the measures 
taken in the pursuit of Action Plan  objectives would also be usef ul. In general, the scope of 
the Action Plans (i.e. the number of sectors addressed) should be maintained, as this 
represents the richness of the relations the EU  is developing with it s partners. A realistic 
stock-taking of the extent of Action Plan  implementation should be carried out.  
 
EN 9   EN Future developments in th e relations with partners 
The ENP is thus gradually gaining ground as a vehicle for the developm ent of more intense 
and fruitful relations between the EU and its  partners. The EU mu st now continue its 
approach of 1) intensifying the policy and its de livery so that it brings  clearer benefits, 2) 
pursuing a gradualist, perfor mance-based and differentiated course and 3) showing 
willingness to deepen relations with select part ners where this is warranted and sought by the 
countries concerned. 
With four countries, joint work on implementi ng the Action Plans has intensified in such a 
way that a particular deepening of relations w ith the EU is warranted. This will be taken 
forward in each case in a manner tailored to the specific circumstances, consistent with the 
overall philosophy of the ENP, including the principle of agreed benchmarks. With Ukraine , 
an ambitious new framework is being laid fo r this partnership thr ough negotiations on a new 
Enhanced Agreement, which are progressing rapi dly and will include provisions for a deep 
and comprehensive free trade area. The Republic of Moldova  has made good progress in 
implementing its ENP Action Plan and shown str ong political will to advance further. As the 
Council concluded in February 2008 , the EU is ready, on the basi s of sustained progress, to 
start a reflection on a new agreement, adapted to the Republic of Moldova's interests and 
going beyond the PCA. Discussions  are also progressing with Morocco  on concrete ways to 
achieve an “advanced status” which could be a broad package including significant measures 
on the mobility of people parallel to progress on readmission. With Israel , a reflection group 
is considering areas where relations with the EU  might be upgraded to a special status; this 
should include both a deepening of political dialo gue and involving Israel more closely in the 
EU economy and market and in a number of key EU policies. 
Joint work will continue over a broad range of sectoral policy areas with Jordan  and Tunisia , 
in support of the countries’ respective reform agendas.  
With other countries, implementation of ENP Action Plans began only relatively recently. 
Progress with Armenia , Egypt  and Georgia  will build upon the promising start already 
made, in each case taking account of the speci fic circumstances and ambitions of the 
countries. Work is also progressing with Azerbaijan  in a number of sectors, including 
cooperation on energy. 
In the case of Lebanon  and the occupied Palestinian  territory, the ENP Action Plans will 
provide a solid anchor for reform once conditions permit greater progress. In the meantime, contacts continue at many levels to build confidence and capacity. A meeting of the Joint 
Committee with the Palestinian Authority sche duled for the second qua rter of 2008 is meant 
to re-launch the joint implementation of its Action Plan. 
With four countries covered by the ENP, no Ac tion Plans have been agreed, but in several 
cases advances in taking relations forwar d have nevertheless b een possible. With Algeria , 
implementation of the Association Agreement is progressing well; relations are deepening 
rapidly in areas ranging from  energy to migration. With 
Libya , relations have tangibly 
improved; the Commission proposes the nego tiation of an ambitious and wide-ranging 
agreement with this important country. With Syria , relations could be enhanced on the basis 
of the draft Association Agreem ent when political circumstances  allow. While relations with 
Belarus  at ministerial level remain constrained due to the internal situation in the country, at 
the same time, technical-level contacts are be ing developed. The opening of an EC Delegation 
in Minsk will make it possible to  strengthen these contacts as we ll as links with Belarus’ civil 
society.  
 
EN 10   EN A more visible policy 
The December 2006 Commission Communi cation noted the need for an  increased visibility of 
the European Neighbourhood Policy to advance ow nership of the reform process, and to 
underpin the EU’s support for its neighbour s as they come closer to the Union . Alongside the 
conference held in Brussels in September 2007, bringing together ministers and civil society 
from the EU and partner countries, 2007 saw a marked increase in the general public's awareness in many partner countries of Action Plan commitments and in the focus of civil 
society organisations on the ENP. Within the EU, the importance of strengthening relations 
with our neighbours has moved closer to the cen tre of the policy debate. The Commission will 
build on these achievements, in cooperation with  the other Institutions, the Member States and 
partner countries.