How can the changes in the settings of the European Neighbourhood Policy affect the EU-Israeli cooperation?

• Název práce v češtině: Jak může nový návrh Nástroje pro sousedství a rozvojovou a mezinárodní spolupráci ovlivnit vztahy EU s Izraelem?
• Název v anglickém jazyce: How can the changes in the settings of the European Neighbourhood Policy affect the EU-Israeli cooperation?
• Klíčová slova: EU, Izrael, ENI, NDICI, Neoinstitucionalismus, ENP
• Klíčová slova anglicky: EU, Izrael, ENI, NDICI, Neo-institutionalism, ENP
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2018/2019
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra mezinárodních vztahů (23-KMV)
• Vedoucí / školitel: PhDr. Irah Kučerová, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno a potvrzeno stud. odd.
• Datum přihlášení: 07.02.2020
• Datum zadání: 07.02.2020
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 23.06.2020 09:30
• Místo konání obhajoby: Jinonice - U Kříže 8, Praha 5, J4019, Jinonice - místn. č. 4019
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 06.05.2020
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 23.06.2020
• Oponenti: Mgr. Jakub Záhora, Ph.D.

Seznam odborné literatury

References
Balasan, Andrei-Christian and Maha, Andreea. “Rational Choice Institutionalism and The European Neighbourhood Policy.” CES Working Papers, Vol. 5, Is. 3, 2013.
Bicchi, Federica. “The Politics of Foreign Aid and the European Neighbourhood Policy Post-Arab Spring: ‘More for More’ or Less of the Same?” Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2014.
Dror, Yehezkel. „Foundations of an Israeli Grand Strategy toward the European Union.” Jewish Political Studies Review 16/3,4, 2004. http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-dror-f04.htm
Du Plessix, Caroline. „The European Union and Israel.” Bulletin Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem, March 25, 2012. https://bcrfj.revues.org/6675
European Commission. “Evaluation of the European Neighbourhood Instrument.” ec.europa.eu, December 15, 2017. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/swd_2017_602_eval_eni_assistance.pdf
European Commission. “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument.” eur-lex.europa, June 14, 2018. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2018%3A460%3AFIN
European External Action Service. “Euro-Mediterranean Agreement.” Official Journal of the European Communities, June 21, 2000. http://eeas.europa.eu/archives/delegations/israel/documents/eu_israel/asso_agree_en.pdf
European Parliament, “The European Neighbourhood Policy.” Fact sheet, accessed January 24, 2019. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/170/the-european-neighbourhood-policy
Hall, Peter A. and Rosemary C. R. “Political Science and The Three New Institutionalisms.” MPIFG Discussion Paper, June 1996. http://edoc.vifapol.de/opus/volltexte/2011/2782/pdf/dp96_6.pdf
Kassim, Hussein and Menon, Anand. “The Principal-agent Approach and The Study of The European Union.” Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 10, No. 1, February 2003: 121-139. https://web.archive.org/web/20110719103411/http://www.iim.uni-flensburg.de/vwl/upload/lehre/wise0607/eus/institutions_and_culture/Kassim_on_P-A_in_EU.pdf
Kratochvíl, Petr. “Theory of European Integration.” Portál, Praha, 2012.
Lawrence, Thomas B. “Power, Institutions and Organizations” in Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism: 170-197. Sage, London, January 2008.
Martins, Bruno O. „Interpreting EU–Israel Relations: a contextual analysis of the EU’s Special Privileged Partnership proposal.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 29/1 (2016): 151-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2015.1117921
Shepsle, Kenneth A. “Rational Choice Institutionalism.” in The Oxford Handbooks of Political Science. Oxford University Press, New York, 2006.
Thomas, Daniel C., “Making EU Foreign Policy: National Preferences, European Norms and Common Policies.” Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2011.

Předběžná náplň práce

Úvod
Diplomová práce se zaměřuje na dopad politických nástrojů a režimu, v kterém EU spravuje vztahy se svým sousedstvím. Evropská sousedská politika (ENP) představuje základní rámec pro mezinárodní vztahy se svými sousedy. Evropský nástroj sousedství (ENI) slouží jako základní prostředek pro financování v rámci programů poskytovaných ENP. Změny v nastavení nástroje pomocí kterého EU provozuje ENP mají dopad na spolupráci se zeměmi, které se podílí na evropských programech. Diplomová práce se pokouší zjistit dopad navrhovaných změn v ENI v případové studii Izraele. Práce by měla plánovačům evropské politiky osvětlit konkrétní dopady jejich rozhodnutí ohledně ENP. Návrh změn byl již zveřejněn.
ENI spravuje Generální ředitelství pro mezinárodní spolupráci a rozvoj a má na starost uvádění politických rozhodnutí v praxi. V současném období (2014-2020) ENI nahradil Evropský nástroj sousedství a partnerství (ENPI), který sloužil k utváření evropské zahraniční politiky do té doby. ENI má 16 partnerských států v evropském sousedství. Je to nástroj, který spravuje mezinárodní vztahy EU s většinou jeho sousedů. Rozpočet ENI pro současné období dosáhl výše 15 miliard euro. V nadcházejícím období má být ENI nahrazeno Nástrojem pro sousedství a rozvojovou a mezinárodní spolupráci (NDICI).
Izraelské vztahy s EU jsou na právní úrovni upraveny Asociační dohodou z roku 2000 a jsou podepřené Akčním plánem z roku 2005. Dohoda garantuje volný obchod s průmyslovým zbožím a podporuje liberalizaci obchodu se zemědělskými produkty, službami a pohybu kapitálu. Obecně se vztahy EU s Izraelm vyvíjí hladce na ekonomické úrovni, zatímco napětí a kontroverze většinou vyvstanou s neshod ohledně Izraelsko-palestinského konfliktu. TTento rozpor se odvíjí od dvojího zájmu EU v regionu. Na jednu stranu je to stabilita a vývoj svého sousedství, na druhou je to větší politická role, kterou chce EU hrát na mezinárodní politické scéně. Vzájemná spolupráce se odvíjí od dvou politických rámců nastavených EU. ENP spravuje bilaterální vztahy a Unie pro středomoří (UfM) poskytuje mnohostrannou platformu sdílenou s celým regionem. Oba rámce sdílí ENI jako zdroj financí. ENP odděluje bilaterální vztahy od regionální politky, čímž slouží izraelskému zájmu. UfM se svojí strukturou zaměřenou na mezinárodní projekty sleduje logiku budování regionu.

Research target, research question, research hypothesis
The new proposal of ENI, the NDICI, was designed to face global challenges outside the EU. The research is trying to establish possible impact of the proposed changes into the ENI on the Israeli-EU cooperation. The entire reform is underpinned by an effort to tackle underdevelopment and instability in the EU neighbourhood. The work is trying to evaluate the proposed changes on the background of these intentions. The hypothesis claims, that the actual effects of the NDICI would have unintended consequences contradicting its spirit. The nature of these consequences would be examined in this thesis. What are the implicit goals of the new proposal of NDICI and how are they going to affect the current EU policy towards Israel?
Literature review
The literature sources should in the first place include primary documents of the EU. ENP and its goals are set in official documents of the EU. Research on ENI and proposals of policy changes should also draw on primary sources published by European Commission or European External Action Service. Among other documents are Association Agreement between Israel and the EU and other primary documents, on which the mutual cooperation is based. Other sources should include European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). The think tank concerns itself with cohesiveness of external action of the EU and impact of its policies on global development. Remaining secondary literature should encompass works of scholars, long time devoted to the study of mutual relations between Israel and the EU, such are Sharon Pardo, Raffaella Del Sarto or Bruno Oliviera Martins and many others from the EU as well as from Israel itself.

Conceptual and theoretical framework
This diploma thesis is a case study.
It is a case study of unintended consequences of governing through international institutions. The EU as an organization is trying to manage its relations with its neighbours. It has created a regime, under which the countries operate. As a theoretical approach best suited for this thesis is considered new institutionalism, especially rational-choice institutionalism. Institutionalism unlike other approaches grants institutions more agency, something deemed appropriate for explanation of the content of the thesis. Publications of K. A. Shepsle, P. A. Hall, C. A. Rosemary and P. Kratochvíl should serve as a guideline through the theoretical anchoring. The EU draws its authority from its members states who delegate power to it, while in the same time they are trying to retain the control over it. It is called the principal-agent model and it falls within the perception of institutions by the Institutionalism of Rational Choice. The work of H. Kassim and A. Menon should be used for covering this part of research.
The matter is further complicated by competing interests of the member states. The deadlock between the states can serve as a force multiplier for the EU. Thus, documents created by wide negotiations across the board of the EU might have a very broad, tempered wording and promote interests of all, defined by the lowest common denominator. Daniel C. Thomas shares this perception in his description of Normative Institutionalism. The financial tool is directed at implementing certain European policies. Its goals are stated in its founding documents and they are oriented towards creation of certain environment.
Furthermore, the neo-institutionalist claim, that institutions tend to preserve power relations should be put under scrutiny and the EU governance should be evaluated from this perspective. The concepts of consistency and coherence should serve as a backbone for analysing ENP. For study of these concepts, the research of A. Ch. Balasan, A. Maha and F. Terpan should be used. The essential perspective being, that ENP is being constructed through different channels and on different levels and there is a dichotomy between ENP conduct and financing documents intentions.

Empirical data and analytical technique
The analytical technique should be loosely inspired by methodology utilized by the reports of the EU. Selected approach should maintain the cohesiveness of the criteria against, which the EU evaluates its success. The EU evaluation criteria are relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and added value, complemented by impact, sustainability, consistency, complementarity and synergies and leverage. Specific indicators at instrument level are published in multi-annual programming documents for each country. The research design should use congruence-testing theory-building method. The hypothesis is derived at inductively. The study considers Israel to be an outlier case. In the time of writing of this project, the document concerning Israel was not published yet. Nonetheless, the performance of the specific programmes within Israel as well as the programmes within Palestinian authority and on the occupied territories could be evaluated on case by case basis if necessary. The ENI follows the reconstructed intervention logic, which examines among other things inputs and activity as well as assumptions in one single framework. The empirical data should primarily include documents of the EU, which establish the policy towards its neighbourhood and its intentions. Furthermore, the data should encompass official documents evaluating and assessing the performance of the ENI funded programs and ENI itself. The secondary literature should explore the debate over the conduct of external relations by EEAS.

Kontura diplomové práce
Práce by měla mít čtyři části a úvod a závěr.
Úvod
1) ENP a její nástroj ENI.
Tato kapitola projde historií ENP, Představí její cíle a zhodnotí její úspěšnost. Mid-term review report ENI by měl sloužit jako základ pro zhodnocení.
2) Spolupráce EU s Izraelem and programy financované ENI.
Druhá kapitola se zaměří na vztahy EU s Izraelem v širším kontextu a na izraelskou účast v programech financovaných ENI.
3) Plánované změny v nastavení ENI.
Třetí kapitola představí NDICI a změny, které přináší. Kapitola se bude věnovat akademické debatě a prozkoumá cíle nového návrhu.
4) Dopad změn na Izrael.
Poslední kapitola bude analyzovat dopad změněných nastavení na spolupráci mezi EU a Izraelem. Výsledky analýzy budou porovnány se záměry návrhu.
Závěr

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

Introduction
The diploma thesis is focused on the impact of the policy tools and the regime imposed by the European Union on its neighbourhood. The European Neighbourhood policy (ENP) forms the basic framework for the international relations of the EU with its partners. The European Neighbourhood instrument (ENI) serves as the basic tool for the conduct of the funding allocations within the framework of the programmes provided as a part of the ENP. Changes of the settings of the tool, through which the EU conducts its ENP, affect the cooperation with the countries who participate in the EU programmes. The diploma thesis seeks to explore the impact of the planned changes into the ENI on the case study of Israel. The work should inform European policy-makers on specific outcome of their decisions regarding ENP. The proposal of the planned changes has been published already.
The ENI is managed by Director General of Development and Cooperation and turns political decisions into the specific actions on the ground. In the current period (2014-2020) ENI replaced European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), which served as a tool for European foreign policy conduct till that time. ENI has 16 partner countries in the vicinity of the EU. It is a tool managing the international relations of the EU with most of its neighbours. ENI budget in the current period amounted to over 15 billion euro. In the upcoming period, the ENI is supposed to be transformed into the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI).
Israeli relations with the EU are on the legal level framed by the Association agreement of 2000 and are underpinned by 2005 Action Plan. The agreement guarantees free trade for industrial goods and promotes liberalisation in trade of agricultural products, services and capital movements. In general, the relations between Israel and the EU are developing smoothly on economic level, while tensions and controversy arise from disagreements over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This discrepancy derives from dual interest of the EU in the region. On one hand, it is the stability and development of its neighbourhood, on the other, it is the greater political role, which EU seeks to play in the world’s politics. Mutual cooperation unreels within two political frameworks set up by the EU. ENP manages bilateral relations and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) provides multilateral platform shared with the entire region. Both frameworks share ENI as a source of funding. ENP is decoupling bilateral ties from regional politics, thus serving Israeli interest. UfM, with its project based structure, pursues region-building logic.

Research target, research question, research hypothesis
The new proposal of ENI, the NDICI, was designed to face global challenges outside the EU. The research is trying to establish possible impact of the proposed changes into the ENI on the Israeli-EU cooperation. The entire reform is underpinned by an effort to tackle underdevelopment and instability in the EU neighbourhood. The work is trying to evaluate the proposed changes on the background of these intentions. The hypothesis claims, that the actual effects of the NDICI would have unintended consequences contradicting its spirit. The nature of these consequences would be examined in this thesis. What are the implicit goals of the new proposal of NDICI and how are they going to affect the current EU policy towards Israel?
Literature review
The literature sources should in the first place include primary documents of the EU. ENP and its goals are set in official documents of the EU. Research on ENI and proposals of policy changes should also draw on primary sources published by European Commission or European External Action Service. Among other documents are Association Agreement between Israel and the EU and other primary documents, on which the mutual cooperation is based. Other sources should include European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). The think tank concerns itself with cohesiveness of external action of the EU and impact of its policies on global development. Remaining secondary literature should encompass works of scholars, long time devoted to the study of mutual relations between Israel and the EU, such are Sharon Pardo, Raffaella Del Sarto or Bruno Oliviera Martins and many others from the EU as well as from Israel itself.

Conceptual and theoretical framework
This diploma thesis is a case study.
It is a case study of unintended consequences of governing through international institutions. The EU as an organization is trying to manage its relations with its neighbours. It has created a regime, under which the countries operate. As a theoretical approach best suited for this thesis is considered new institutionalism, especially rational-choice institutionalism. Institutionalism unlike other approaches grants institutions more agency, something deemed appropriate for explanation of the content of the thesis. Publications of K. A. Shepsle, P. A. Hall, C. A. Rosemary and P. Kratochvíl should serve as a guideline through the theoretical anchoring. The EU draws its authority from its members states who delegate power to it, while in the same time they are trying to retain the control over it. It is called the principal-agent model and it falls within the perception of institutions by the Institutionalism of Rational Choice. The work of H. Kassim and A. Menon should be used for covering this part of research.
The matter is further complicated by competing interests of the member states. The deadlock between the states can serve as a force multiplier for the EU. Thus, documents created by wide negotiations across the board of the EU might have a very broad, tempered wording and promote interests of all, defined by the lowest common denominator. Daniel C. Thomas shares this perception in his description of Normative Institutionalism. The financial tool is directed at implementing certain European policies. Its goals are stated in its founding documents and they are oriented towards creation of certain environment.
Furthermore, the neo-institutionalist claim, that institutions tend to preserve power relations should be put under scrutiny and the EU governance should be evaluated from this perspective. The concepts of consistency and coherence should serve as a backbone for analysing ENP. For study of these concepts, the research of A. Ch. Balasan, A. Maha and F. Terpan should be used. The essential perspective being, that ENP is being constructed through different channels and on different levels and there is a dichotomy between ENP conduct and financing documents intentions.

Empirical data and analytical technique
The analytical technique should be loosely inspired by methodology utilized by the reports of the EU. Selected approach should maintain the cohesiveness of the criteria against, which the EU evaluates its success. The EU evaluation criteria are relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and added value, complemented by impact, sustainability, consistency, complementarity and synergies and leverage. Specific indicators at instrument level are published in multi-annual programming documents for each country. The research design should use congruence-testing theory-building method. The hypothesis is derived at inductively. The study considers Israel to be an outlier case. In the time of writing of this project, the document concerning Israel was not published yet. Nonetheless, the performance of the specific programmes within Israel as well as the programmes within Palestinian authority and on the occupied territories could be evaluated on case by case basis if necessary. The ENI follows the reconstructed intervention logic, which examines among other things inputs and activity as well as assumptions in one single framework. The empirical data should primarily include documents of the EU, which establish the policy towards its neighbourhood and its intentions. Furthermore, the data should encompass official documents evaluating and assessing the performance of the ENI funded programs and ENI itself. The secondary literature should explore the debate over the conduct of external relations by EEAS.

Planned thesis outline
The thesis should have four parts, introduction and conclusion.
Introduction
1) ENP and its tool ENI.
This chapter should provide brief description of ENP’s history, outline of its goals and evaluation of its success. The Mid-term review of the ENI assistance should serve as the basis for the evaluation.
2) EU cooperation with Israel and the ENI funded programs.
The second chapter should focus on EU-Israeli relations in broader context, as well as on the Israeli participation within the ENI funded programs.
3) Planned changes into settings of ENI.
The third chapter should outline the NDICI and the changes, which it introduces. It should present the surrounding debate and examine the intended goals of the new proposal.
4) Impact of the changes on Israel.
The last chapter is going to analyse the impact of the changed settings on EU-Israeli cooperation. The results of the analysis are going to be compared with the intended goals of the proposal.
Conclusion