In the past, the European Union (EU) has established partnership agreements to strengthen co-operation with its neighbouring countries. In 2004, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was put in place with the objectives of avoiding the emergence of new frontier divisions between the enlarged EU and its immediate neighbours, and at the same time creating the conditions to strengthen peace, prosperity and stability to all countries involved. The ENP has turned into a unified policy framework for the EU's neighbours, offering preferential economic and political relations in exchange for the recipient countries' adherence to the Union's principles. The ultimate aim of the ENP is to strengthen the prosperity, stability and security of the EU by creating a ‘ring of friends’ around the EU's political border.