Conclusion: The EU, Regional Integration and Conflict Transformation

Abstract

This chapter shows that on the one hand, our findings take issue with a widespread assessment that the EU’s promotion of regional integration is useless. There sometimes are long-term changes in actors’ behaviour that we can link to regionalisation strategies. Rather than causing regionalisation processes and conflict transformations, the EU often serves as a reference point once there is a window of opportunity. On the other hand, the chapters in this volume have shown that there are many deficiencies of EU policy. These include the lack of consistency and thus of credibility, the one-sided promotion of market integration and the unwillingness to be open to other integration experiences that challenge the EU’s model.