This article examines the normative power of the EU by comparing the EU’s approach to the rule of law in the enlargement and European Neighbourhood policy. Drawing on content analysis and on a series of projects implemented in the Balkans and in the Eastern Neighbourhood, the article demonstrates that a new “division of labour” is established between the EU and the Council of Europe with the aim to ensure a much higher degree of coherence, accountability and legitimacy. The article explains why and how the European Commission is creating a complex multi-institutional framework and has introduced a division of tasks between several international bodies and organizations. It shows that while the European Commission takes on the tasks of clarifying why it values the rule of law, it outsources or externalizes the tasks of defining the set of rules and of monitoring and assessment of compliance to other international actors.
