The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is at a crossroads. Over the course of France's EU Presidency the Union of the Mediterranean will be launched and the Polish-Swedish proposal for an "Eastern Partnership" will be elaborated upon. These initiatives challenge the ENP and cast doubt over the EU's ability to keep the southern and eastern neighbourhoods together under one roof. This paper argues that whilst the EU should maintain its "balanced approach" to its neighbourhood, it should at the same time develop more differentiation within ENP, which will strengthen the policy. To this end, the EU should recognise, more sincerely and practically, the European aspirations of the eastern neighbours by stating explicitly that ENP is not an end in itself, but rather a route to possible membership.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a shipper-owned oil pipeline carrying Caspian oil to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossyisk, remains to this day the only oil export pipeline on Russian territory that is not under the control of the state company Transneft. Completed in 2001, the CPC was, from the start, the product of a fragile balance of power between states eager to maintain control of hydrocarbon flows and private companies able to finance the necessary infrastructure. Despite its economic success, the future of the CPC currently hinges on a shareholding dispute pitting Russia against Western private shareholders. This essay places the CPC dossier in the broader context of Russia's investment climate and argues that the dispute's dynamic is an important bellwether of the Russian energy policy.