Europe making neighbors

While the vast oil reserves of the Arab world are more than ever the focus of Western attention, over the last few years the eastern neighborhood of the trans-Atlantic community has also gained in importance. European Union enlargement has redrawn the map of Europe, and as a result the EU is struggling to determine policies and instruments for stability and security in its east, a concern it shares with the United States. Although broader priorities face the US, among which Eastern Europe is just one, the EU focus is narrower and deeper, concerning internal functioning and development of the Union. Careful of Russian interests, policies and instruments employed by the trans-Atlantic partners have remained modest, but more recently, consensus seems to be emerging that Eastern Europe deserves stronger Western engagement. On the European Union side, there is broadening acknowledgement that older policies have been insufficient, and adjustment of EU strategies