This paper discusses the 2015 reform of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), focusing on the preferences of and coordination among the member state and EU-level actors responsible for designing the policy framework. In doing so the paper contributes to scholarship on the politics of multi-level decision-making in the EU’s external relations policymaking system. Drawing on the rich empirical material of the 2015 ENP review, it argues that an overwhelming perception of crisis among key decision-makers evolved into a consensus that turbulence in the neighbourhood posed serious threats to the EU. This facilitated a joint effort to coordinate across member states and EU institutions to reach a common position on a narrow set of policy priorities, especially regarding security, counter terrorism and border control. Although this has produced a more focussed and therefore more coherent policy framework, it has also dramatically reduced the ENP’s ambition. Support for liberal-democratic political and economic transformation in the EU’s image has been stripped away, leaving a securitised cooperation framework aimed at increasing 'resilience' to perceived threats in the neighbourhood.
