The literature on the European Union's influence in its Eastern neighbourhood has tended to focus... more The literature on the European Union's influence in its Eastern neighbourhood has tended to focus on EU-level policies and prioritise EU-related variables. This book seeks to overcome this EU-centric approach by connecting EU policy transfer to the domestic and regional environment in which it unfolds. It looks at the way in which the EU seeks to influence domestic change in the post-Soviet countries participating in the European Neighbourhood Policy/Eastern Partnership and domestic receptivity to EU policies and templates. It seeks to disentangle the various dynamics behind domestic change (or lack thereof) in Eastern Partnership countries, including EU policy mechanisms, domestic elites' preferences and strategies, regional interdependences and Russia's policies. Based upon extensive empirical investigation on EU policies in four countries: Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – and in two pivotal policy sectors – the book provides systematic and nuanced understanding of complex forces at work in the policy transfer process. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of international relations , European studies, democratization studies, and East European Politics and area studies, particularly post-Soviet/Eurasian studies.
hile the European Union (EU) is widely perceived as a model for regional integration, the encoura... more hile the European Union (EU) is widely perceived as a model for regional integration, the encouragement of regional co-operation also ranks high among its foreign policy priorities. Drawing on a wealth of sources and extensive fieldwork conducted in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Laure Delcour questions the pursuit of this external objective in EU policies implemented in the CIS and the existence of an EU regional vision in the post-Soviet area. She asks does the recent compartmentalization of EU policies correspond to a growing fragmentation of the former Soviet Union that cannot be considered as a region anymore? Does it rather reflect the EU's own interests in the area? Interested in exposing why the EU has not pursued a strategy of 'region-building' in the post-Soviet area, Delcour examines the disintegration dynamics affecting the area following the collapse of the USSR, the interplay between different actors and levels of action in EU foreign policy-making and the role of other region-builders. She takes a closer look at the strategic partnership with Russia, European Neighbourhood Policy, Eastern Partnership and Black Sea Synergy as a capability test for the European foreign policy to promote its foreign policy priorities and to raise a distinctive profile in the international arena.
This study looks at the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as a capability test for the European... more This study looks at the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as a capability test for the European Union (EU) to become a coherent and influential international actor. The resulting picture is an ambivalent EU, experimenting policies with civilian means rather than pursuing a clearly defined finalité. Prefaced by Jacques Rupnik, the volume gathers empirical and theoretical contributions to analyze the intermingled policy ideas, actors and levels of the ENP. It will be of interest to students and scholars of European Studies, International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis. Laure Delcour (IRIS, Paris) and Elsa Tulmets (IIR, Prague) are both analysts of the ENP and European foreign policy. “This volume, edited by Laure Delcour and Elsa Tulmets, provides a most valuable contribution to our understanding of ENP as a defining moment for the future of the European project and EU’s role as an actor on the international scene” (Jacques Rupnik, research director, CERI/Sciences Po Paris)
The article seeks to advance the understanding of the shifting European Union (EU)-Russia interac... more The article seeks to advance the understanding of the shifting European Union (EU)-Russia interaction in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus by exploring both the EU’s policies and responses to Russia’s initiatives in the region. Drawing on different strands of literature (regionalism, international relations and EU foreign policy analysis), it identifies three scope conditions under which to expect EU policies to influence the interaction with Russia in the shared neighbourhood: the degree of integration offered to post-Soviet countries as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)/Eastern Partnership (EaP); the extent to which the EU seeks to link Russia with the ENP/EaP; and the degree of internal coherence on the EU’s interaction with Russia. The article argues that all three conditions have contributed to shaping interaction with Russia, albeit to different degrees. It is primarily the EU’s new role of a region-builder as part of the EaP that triggered Russia’s counter-actions, thereby resulting in a growing competition for influence in what has become a contested neighbourhood.
While the geopolitical rivalry between the European Union (EU) and Russia over their common neigh... more While the geopolitical rivalry between the European Union (EU) and Russia over their common neighborhood has increasingly attracted academic and public attention, relatively little is known of its actual influence on domestic institutions and policies. This special issue aims to address this deficit by investigating the joint impact of the EU and Russia on the domestic dynamics of sectoral reform in neighboring countries (NCs) – a key declared goal of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) – in the areas of trade, natural resources, and migration and mobility. It examines the nature of the instruments deployed by the EU and Russia to change domestic reform processes and their impact on domestic actors in the post-Soviet space. This introductory article outlines the key research questions to which answers have been sought by experts in their respective fields and summarizes their key empirical findings in the context of broader conceptual debates. Overall, the contributions to this special issue find a strong disconnect between participation in the EU’s or Russia’s macro-frameworks for regional integration and domestic sectoral reforms. We show that despite the increasing external competition over the post-Soviet space, domestic actors remain the key agents to account for the pattern of change in the contested neighborhood.
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) are a cornerstone of the Deep and Comprehensive Free-T... more Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) are a cornerstone of the Deep and Comprehensive Free-Trade Areas (DCFTAs) negotiated between the EU and Eastern European Neighborhood Countries (ENCs) under the Eastern Partnership. These are expected to eliminate quotas as well as both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, thus improving the existing export opportunities for food and feed products from Ukraine, Moldova, and South Caucasus countries. However, NCs face multifaceted challenges in meeting the stringent EU regulatory and administrative requirements in the SPS area. Domestically, in light of Soviet legacies (including a food safety system that deeply differed from WTO-compliant standards), approximation with EU SPS standards requires massive reforms and involves high costs for partner countries—to be borne not only by state authorities but also private businesses. Yet reforms to comply with EU demands are also closely intertwined with regional interdependencies and Russia's bilateral and multilateral policies. This article scrutinizes the interplay between domestic preferences, EU demands for reform, and Russia's policies. It points to a complex and multifaceted relationship between engagement into a macro-level regional framework and shifting sectoral compliance patterns. This paper highlights disjunctures between sector-specific compliance processes with EU demands, on the one hand, and macro-level relations between these countries and the EU and Russia on the other. As the article argues, this is because external actors' policies are filtered by domestic interests, preferences, and practices. Ultimately, these shape the adoption and application of external templates. 2
Secure and well-managed migration and mobility figure prominently in the European Union's (EU) re... more Secure and well-managed migration and mobility figure prominently in the European Union's (EU) relations with its Eastern neighbors. In the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP), the EU relies extensively on policy conditionality as it ties the reward of visa-free travel to the adoption of specific policies by neighboring countries in order to better regulate and manage mobility and migration. However, in the post-Soviet space migration flows and management are, to a great extent, still shaped by (post-) Soviet legacies and interdependences. As a result, Russian domestic and foreign policies shape the way migration and mobility are perceived and managed by neighborhood countries. In this article, we seek to investigate what effect these historically grown ties and current foreign policy actions exert on compliance with EU requirements for visa liberalization in Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova. In all three countries, we identify patterns of change over time and explain them according to the interplay of partner countries' political preferences with EU policy conditionality and incentives by Russia.
This article intends to enrich the understanding of region-building processes in the post-Soviet ... more This article intends to enrich the understanding of region-building processes in the post-Soviet space by explaining why countries engage into regional projects and highlighting the critical connections between external and internal drivers of integration. Based upon the analysis of the drivers behind Armenia’s and Moldova’s commitment to Eurasian integration and association with the EU, respectively, it develops a more nuanced approach to region-building in the post-Soviet space, whereby partner countries are not only objects, but also subjects of policies implemented by external actors.
In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived asexceptions to the growing a... more In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived asexceptions to the growing authoritarianism in the region owing to the farreaching political changes triggered by the so-called Colour Revolutions a decade ago. This article examines Russia’s reaction to political changes in Georgia and Ukraine in light of the interplay between the democracy promotion policies implemented by the EU and US and domestic patterns of democratization. We argue that despite the relatively weak impact of EU and US policies vis-a`-vis domestic structures, Russia has responded harshly to (what it perceives as) a Western expansionist agenda in pursuit of reasserting its own hegemonic position in the post-Soviet space. However, coercive pressure from Russia has also unintended, counterproductive effects. We argue that the pressure has actually made Georgia and Ukraine more determined to pursue their pro-Western orientation and has spawned democratization, thereby unintendly supporting the objectives of the Western democracy promoters.
The question of why some countries adopt external policy templates is particularly salient with r... more The question of why some countries adopt external policy templates is particularly salient with regard to Armenia. All indicators suggest that Armenia would be unlikely to respond to EU stimuli for reform. And yet, in the early 2010s, Armenia vigorously adopted EU policy and institutional templates. This article seeks to explain this conundrum by exploring how EU policies (especially under the Eastern Partnership) feed into the domestic context and meet the agenda of national elites. The article deliberately departs from the mainstream explanations of ‘Europeanisation beyond accession’ and argues that closer scrutiny of the domestic context is a sine qua non for making sense of the baffling discrepancies in neighbouring states’ responses to EU policies. The case of Armenia vividly demonstrates the imperative for re-assessing the approaches that have so far focused on EU-level factors and for bringing together EU variables with a detailed analysis of the domestic and regional contexts.
Development Cooperation of the ‘New' EU Member States. Beyond Europeanization. London : Palgrave. Edited by Ondrej Horký-Hluchán, Simon Lightfoot, Aug 2015
This chapter intends to explore the way in which Lithuania has travelled from aid recipient, in t... more This chapter intends to explore the way in which Lithuania has travelled from aid recipient, in the aftermath of independence, to aid donor upon EU accession, and then to a broker and an agenda-setter on development cooperation issues as part of the rotating Presidency of the EU Council. To what extent and in what ways has Lithuanian development cooperation evolved over the past decade, and as a result of what processes? Can the transformations of Lithuanian development policy be explained by EU accession or rather by the domestic context? The chapter argues that to a great extent, Lithuania’s development cooperation policy is still in the making. Over the past decade, the policy has been evolving as a result of both Europeanization pressures and shifting domestic dynamics. The picture which emerges from the analysis is a hybrid development policy, driven by the country’s foreign policy identity and interests, but also increasingly guided by the EU’s and the international development agendas.
'Geopolitics of Eurasian Integration', LSE, Jun 26, 2014
While Armenia is widely perceived as one of Russia’s closest allies, its attitude toward Russia-l... more While Armenia is widely perceived as one of Russia’s closest allies, its attitude toward Russia-led policies is actually much more complex than it appears at first glance. Since the early 1990s, Russia has provided Armenia with what the country needs most in light of its geopolitical situation: security. Yet Armenia’s over-reliance on Russia actually increases the country’s vulnerability. Therefore, from the beginning of the 2000’s Armenia has increasingly sought to diversify its foreign policy and to enhance international integration, especially with the EU. Nonetheless, the country’s quest for complementarity has stumbled against Russian pressures, which resulted in President Sargsyan’s decision to join the Eurasian Customs Union. While this choice overshadows persistent interrogations in Armenian society, the country is de facto caught in a security trap. This is because the quest for protection at all costs has actually led Armenia to become increasingly, if not entirely, dependent on Russia.
in: R. Dragneva and K. Wolczuk (Eds.) Eurasian Economic Integration: Law, Policy and Politics (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2013). , 2013
The EU regards itself as the primary source for socio-economic modernization in the post-Soviet s... more The EU regards itself as the primary source for socio-economic modernization in the post-Soviet space, with the requirement for regulatory convergence with EU norms as its key mechanism. The Association Agreements consist of hard-law, legally binding commitments, but a higher degree of legalization cannot make up for the EU’s lack of a blueprint for political and economic relations with the post-Soviet states.
For Russia, the EU’s exercise of ‘normative power’ in the post-Soviet space has resulted in important lesson learning. In particular, Russia has upgraded its approach to regional integration by investing in economic integration with a high degree of institutionalization and legalization to assert its position in the post-Soviet space. With a complex pattern of dependencies on the EU and Russia displayed by the countries in the common neighbourhood, the emergence of the ECU has multiple and far reaching implications for the EU.
For many countries in the common neighbourhood, Russia’s promotion of the ECU appears to be selling ‘old wine in new bottles’. This is especially evident with the use of tried-and-tested mechanisms of influence – such as selective economic sanctions or ‘loyalty discounts’ on energy prices – to promote integration with the new regime. Nevertheless, the countries in-between have to find a formula for interactions with the new economic organization. The case of Ukraine is highly instructive. Russia’s leverage over Ukraine in terms of energy and market access is likely to make Ukraine’s economic integration with the EU even more costly and risky in the short-term and thereby weakening for Ukraine’s regulatory convergence with the EU.
For the partner countries, the co-existence of European and Eurasian integration regimes entails working out their priorities and strategies within the overlapping spheres of integration. The difficulty is compounded by different temporalities promoted by the EU and Russia, with each of them relying on asymmetries vis-a-vis the countries in the neighbourhood. This growing complexity would seem to necessitate from the EU a more self-reflective, purposeful and contextualized policy towards the post-Soviet states to effectively promote economic integration. This is unlikely to be forthcoming in the context of political and economic crises in the EU and the common neighbourhood will remain caught in the overlapping spheres of integration, resulting in a highly precarious regional context.
Drawing upon the policy instrument approach developed by Lascoumes and Le Galès, this article exa... more Drawing upon the policy instrument approach developed by Lascoumes and Le Galès, this article examines the representations and meanings underlying the Eastern Partnership’s tools and their effects on policy practices in partner countries. Based upon two sector-specific studies (EU instruments in food safety and visa liberalisation) in EU-Georgia relations, the article maintains that there has been a shift in the logic underlying the EU’s policy instruments. While the Eastern Partnership’s toolbox offers an innovative combination of participatory instruments and hierarchical policy transfer, the practice of EU-neighbours’ interactions highlights a clear predominance of the latter. The increased reliance upon conditionality has not only contributed to (re)structuring EU-Eastern neighbours relations in terms of agenda-setting. It has also affected practices of policy convergence in partner countries. By imposing conditionality while failing to adjust to Georgia’s specific needs, the EU’s approach generates more systematic, yet shallow policy convergence.
This article analyses the extent to which and the way in which the European Union has acted as a ... more This article analyses the extent to which and the way in which the European Union has acted as a security provider in its eastern vicinity since the European Neighbourhood Policy was launched. The EU’s capacity to emerge as a security provider and the approaches developed in this purpose are gauged against three major EU objectives in the eastern neighbourhood : conflict resolution, control of migration flows and good governance. The article sustains that EU efforts to reach objectives which it considers important for regional security are undermined by a lack of coherence in policy implementation across the eastern neighbourhood .
George Lawson, Chris Armbruster and Michael Cox (eds.), The Global 1989: Continuity and Change in World Politics 1989-2009, Cambridge University Press, 2010
The literature on the European Union's influence in its Eastern neighbourhood has tended to focus... more The literature on the European Union's influence in its Eastern neighbourhood has tended to focus on EU-level policies and prioritise EU-related variables. This book seeks to overcome this EU-centric approach by connecting EU policy transfer to the domestic and regional environment in which it unfolds. It looks at the way in which the EU seeks to influence domestic change in the post-Soviet countries participating in the European Neighbourhood Policy/Eastern Partnership and domestic receptivity to EU policies and templates. It seeks to disentangle the various dynamics behind domestic change (or lack thereof) in Eastern Partnership countries, including EU policy mechanisms, domestic elites' preferences and strategies, regional interdependences and Russia's policies. Based upon extensive empirical investigation on EU policies in four countries: Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – and in two pivotal policy sectors – the book provides systematic and nuanced understanding of complex forces at work in the policy transfer process. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of international relations , European studies, democratization studies, and East European Politics and area studies, particularly post-Soviet/Eurasian studies.
hile the European Union (EU) is widely perceived as a model for regional integration, the encoura... more hile the European Union (EU) is widely perceived as a model for regional integration, the encouragement of regional co-operation also ranks high among its foreign policy priorities. Drawing on a wealth of sources and extensive fieldwork conducted in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Laure Delcour questions the pursuit of this external objective in EU policies implemented in the CIS and the existence of an EU regional vision in the post-Soviet area. She asks does the recent compartmentalization of EU policies correspond to a growing fragmentation of the former Soviet Union that cannot be considered as a region anymore? Does it rather reflect the EU's own interests in the area? Interested in exposing why the EU has not pursued a strategy of 'region-building' in the post-Soviet area, Delcour examines the disintegration dynamics affecting the area following the collapse of the USSR, the interplay between different actors and levels of action in EU foreign policy-making and the role of other region-builders. She takes a closer look at the strategic partnership with Russia, European Neighbourhood Policy, Eastern Partnership and Black Sea Synergy as a capability test for the European foreign policy to promote its foreign policy priorities and to raise a distinctive profile in the international arena.
This study looks at the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as a capability test for the European... more This study looks at the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as a capability test for the European Union (EU) to become a coherent and influential international actor. The resulting picture is an ambivalent EU, experimenting policies with civilian means rather than pursuing a clearly defined finalité. Prefaced by Jacques Rupnik, the volume gathers empirical and theoretical contributions to analyze the intermingled policy ideas, actors and levels of the ENP. It will be of interest to students and scholars of European Studies, International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis. Laure Delcour (IRIS, Paris) and Elsa Tulmets (IIR, Prague) are both analysts of the ENP and European foreign policy. “This volume, edited by Laure Delcour and Elsa Tulmets, provides a most valuable contribution to our understanding of ENP as a defining moment for the future of the European project and EU’s role as an actor on the international scene” (Jacques Rupnik, research director, CERI/Sciences Po Paris)
The article seeks to advance the understanding of the shifting European Union (EU)-Russia interac... more The article seeks to advance the understanding of the shifting European Union (EU)-Russia interaction in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus by exploring both the EU’s policies and responses to Russia’s initiatives in the region. Drawing on different strands of literature (regionalism, international relations and EU foreign policy analysis), it identifies three scope conditions under which to expect EU policies to influence the interaction with Russia in the shared neighbourhood: the degree of integration offered to post-Soviet countries as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)/Eastern Partnership (EaP); the extent to which the EU seeks to link Russia with the ENP/EaP; and the degree of internal coherence on the EU’s interaction with Russia. The article argues that all three conditions have contributed to shaping interaction with Russia, albeit to different degrees. It is primarily the EU’s new role of a region-builder as part of the EaP that triggered Russia’s counter-actions, thereby resulting in a growing competition for influence in what has become a contested neighbourhood.
While the geopolitical rivalry between the European Union (EU) and Russia over their common neigh... more While the geopolitical rivalry between the European Union (EU) and Russia over their common neighborhood has increasingly attracted academic and public attention, relatively little is known of its actual influence on domestic institutions and policies. This special issue aims to address this deficit by investigating the joint impact of the EU and Russia on the domestic dynamics of sectoral reform in neighboring countries (NCs) – a key declared goal of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) – in the areas of trade, natural resources, and migration and mobility. It examines the nature of the instruments deployed by the EU and Russia to change domestic reform processes and their impact on domestic actors in the post-Soviet space. This introductory article outlines the key research questions to which answers have been sought by experts in their respective fields and summarizes their key empirical findings in the context of broader conceptual debates. Overall, the contributions to this special issue find a strong disconnect between participation in the EU’s or Russia’s macro-frameworks for regional integration and domestic sectoral reforms. We show that despite the increasing external competition over the post-Soviet space, domestic actors remain the key agents to account for the pattern of change in the contested neighborhood.
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) are a cornerstone of the Deep and Comprehensive Free-T... more Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) are a cornerstone of the Deep and Comprehensive Free-Trade Areas (DCFTAs) negotiated between the EU and Eastern European Neighborhood Countries (ENCs) under the Eastern Partnership. These are expected to eliminate quotas as well as both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, thus improving the existing export opportunities for food and feed products from Ukraine, Moldova, and South Caucasus countries. However, NCs face multifaceted challenges in meeting the stringent EU regulatory and administrative requirements in the SPS area. Domestically, in light of Soviet legacies (including a food safety system that deeply differed from WTO-compliant standards), approximation with EU SPS standards requires massive reforms and involves high costs for partner countries—to be borne not only by state authorities but also private businesses. Yet reforms to comply with EU demands are also closely intertwined with regional interdependencies and Russia's bilateral and multilateral policies. This article scrutinizes the interplay between domestic preferences, EU demands for reform, and Russia's policies. It points to a complex and multifaceted relationship between engagement into a macro-level regional framework and shifting sectoral compliance patterns. This paper highlights disjunctures between sector-specific compliance processes with EU demands, on the one hand, and macro-level relations between these countries and the EU and Russia on the other. As the article argues, this is because external actors' policies are filtered by domestic interests, preferences, and practices. Ultimately, these shape the adoption and application of external templates. 2
Secure and well-managed migration and mobility figure prominently in the European Union's (EU) re... more Secure and well-managed migration and mobility figure prominently in the European Union's (EU) relations with its Eastern neighbors. In the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP), the EU relies extensively on policy conditionality as it ties the reward of visa-free travel to the adoption of specific policies by neighboring countries in order to better regulate and manage mobility and migration. However, in the post-Soviet space migration flows and management are, to a great extent, still shaped by (post-) Soviet legacies and interdependences. As a result, Russian domestic and foreign policies shape the way migration and mobility are perceived and managed by neighborhood countries. In this article, we seek to investigate what effect these historically grown ties and current foreign policy actions exert on compliance with EU requirements for visa liberalization in Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova. In all three countries, we identify patterns of change over time and explain them according to the interplay of partner countries' political preferences with EU policy conditionality and incentives by Russia.
This article intends to enrich the understanding of region-building processes in the post-Soviet ... more This article intends to enrich the understanding of region-building processes in the post-Soviet space by explaining why countries engage into regional projects and highlighting the critical connections between external and internal drivers of integration. Based upon the analysis of the drivers behind Armenia’s and Moldova’s commitment to Eurasian integration and association with the EU, respectively, it develops a more nuanced approach to region-building in the post-Soviet space, whereby partner countries are not only objects, but also subjects of policies implemented by external actors.
In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived asexceptions to the growing a... more In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived asexceptions to the growing authoritarianism in the region owing to the farreaching political changes triggered by the so-called Colour Revolutions a decade ago. This article examines Russia’s reaction to political changes in Georgia and Ukraine in light of the interplay between the democracy promotion policies implemented by the EU and US and domestic patterns of democratization. We argue that despite the relatively weak impact of EU and US policies vis-a`-vis domestic structures, Russia has responded harshly to (what it perceives as) a Western expansionist agenda in pursuit of reasserting its own hegemonic position in the post-Soviet space. However, coercive pressure from Russia has also unintended, counterproductive effects. We argue that the pressure has actually made Georgia and Ukraine more determined to pursue their pro-Western orientation and has spawned democratization, thereby unintendly supporting the objectives of the Western democracy promoters.
The question of why some countries adopt external policy templates is particularly salient with r... more The question of why some countries adopt external policy templates is particularly salient with regard to Armenia. All indicators suggest that Armenia would be unlikely to respond to EU stimuli for reform. And yet, in the early 2010s, Armenia vigorously adopted EU policy and institutional templates. This article seeks to explain this conundrum by exploring how EU policies (especially under the Eastern Partnership) feed into the domestic context and meet the agenda of national elites. The article deliberately departs from the mainstream explanations of ‘Europeanisation beyond accession’ and argues that closer scrutiny of the domestic context is a sine qua non for making sense of the baffling discrepancies in neighbouring states’ responses to EU policies. The case of Armenia vividly demonstrates the imperative for re-assessing the approaches that have so far focused on EU-level factors and for bringing together EU variables with a detailed analysis of the domestic and regional contexts.
Development Cooperation of the ‘New' EU Member States. Beyond Europeanization. London : Palgrave. Edited by Ondrej Horký-Hluchán, Simon Lightfoot, Aug 2015
This chapter intends to explore the way in which Lithuania has travelled from aid recipient, in t... more This chapter intends to explore the way in which Lithuania has travelled from aid recipient, in the aftermath of independence, to aid donor upon EU accession, and then to a broker and an agenda-setter on development cooperation issues as part of the rotating Presidency of the EU Council. To what extent and in what ways has Lithuanian development cooperation evolved over the past decade, and as a result of what processes? Can the transformations of Lithuanian development policy be explained by EU accession or rather by the domestic context? The chapter argues that to a great extent, Lithuania’s development cooperation policy is still in the making. Over the past decade, the policy has been evolving as a result of both Europeanization pressures and shifting domestic dynamics. The picture which emerges from the analysis is a hybrid development policy, driven by the country’s foreign policy identity and interests, but also increasingly guided by the EU’s and the international development agendas.
'Geopolitics of Eurasian Integration', LSE, Jun 26, 2014
While Armenia is widely perceived as one of Russia’s closest allies, its attitude toward Russia-l... more While Armenia is widely perceived as one of Russia’s closest allies, its attitude toward Russia-led policies is actually much more complex than it appears at first glance. Since the early 1990s, Russia has provided Armenia with what the country needs most in light of its geopolitical situation: security. Yet Armenia’s over-reliance on Russia actually increases the country’s vulnerability. Therefore, from the beginning of the 2000’s Armenia has increasingly sought to diversify its foreign policy and to enhance international integration, especially with the EU. Nonetheless, the country’s quest for complementarity has stumbled against Russian pressures, which resulted in President Sargsyan’s decision to join the Eurasian Customs Union. While this choice overshadows persistent interrogations in Armenian society, the country is de facto caught in a security trap. This is because the quest for protection at all costs has actually led Armenia to become increasingly, if not entirely, dependent on Russia.
in: R. Dragneva and K. Wolczuk (Eds.) Eurasian Economic Integration: Law, Policy and Politics (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2013). , 2013
The EU regards itself as the primary source for socio-economic modernization in the post-Soviet s... more The EU regards itself as the primary source for socio-economic modernization in the post-Soviet space, with the requirement for regulatory convergence with EU norms as its key mechanism. The Association Agreements consist of hard-law, legally binding commitments, but a higher degree of legalization cannot make up for the EU’s lack of a blueprint for political and economic relations with the post-Soviet states.
For Russia, the EU’s exercise of ‘normative power’ in the post-Soviet space has resulted in important lesson learning. In particular, Russia has upgraded its approach to regional integration by investing in economic integration with a high degree of institutionalization and legalization to assert its position in the post-Soviet space. With a complex pattern of dependencies on the EU and Russia displayed by the countries in the common neighbourhood, the emergence of the ECU has multiple and far reaching implications for the EU.
For many countries in the common neighbourhood, Russia’s promotion of the ECU appears to be selling ‘old wine in new bottles’. This is especially evident with the use of tried-and-tested mechanisms of influence – such as selective economic sanctions or ‘loyalty discounts’ on energy prices – to promote integration with the new regime. Nevertheless, the countries in-between have to find a formula for interactions with the new economic organization. The case of Ukraine is highly instructive. Russia’s leverage over Ukraine in terms of energy and market access is likely to make Ukraine’s economic integration with the EU even more costly and risky in the short-term and thereby weakening for Ukraine’s regulatory convergence with the EU.
For the partner countries, the co-existence of European and Eurasian integration regimes entails working out their priorities and strategies within the overlapping spheres of integration. The difficulty is compounded by different temporalities promoted by the EU and Russia, with each of them relying on asymmetries vis-a-vis the countries in the neighbourhood. This growing complexity would seem to necessitate from the EU a more self-reflective, purposeful and contextualized policy towards the post-Soviet states to effectively promote economic integration. This is unlikely to be forthcoming in the context of political and economic crises in the EU and the common neighbourhood will remain caught in the overlapping spheres of integration, resulting in a highly precarious regional context.
Drawing upon the policy instrument approach developed by Lascoumes and Le Galès, this article exa... more Drawing upon the policy instrument approach developed by Lascoumes and Le Galès, this article examines the representations and meanings underlying the Eastern Partnership’s tools and their effects on policy practices in partner countries. Based upon two sector-specific studies (EU instruments in food safety and visa liberalisation) in EU-Georgia relations, the article maintains that there has been a shift in the logic underlying the EU’s policy instruments. While the Eastern Partnership’s toolbox offers an innovative combination of participatory instruments and hierarchical policy transfer, the practice of EU-neighbours’ interactions highlights a clear predominance of the latter. The increased reliance upon conditionality has not only contributed to (re)structuring EU-Eastern neighbours relations in terms of agenda-setting. It has also affected practices of policy convergence in partner countries. By imposing conditionality while failing to adjust to Georgia’s specific needs, the EU’s approach generates more systematic, yet shallow policy convergence.
This article analyses the extent to which and the way in which the European Union has acted as a ... more This article analyses the extent to which and the way in which the European Union has acted as a security provider in its eastern vicinity since the European Neighbourhood Policy was launched. The EU’s capacity to emerge as a security provider and the approaches developed in this purpose are gauged against three major EU objectives in the eastern neighbourhood : conflict resolution, control of migration flows and good governance. The article sustains that EU efforts to reach objectives which it considers important for regional security are undermined by a lack of coherence in policy implementation across the eastern neighbourhood .
George Lawson, Chris Armbruster and Michael Cox (eds.), The Global 1989: Continuity and Change in World Politics 1989-2009, Cambridge University Press, 2010
Whilst 1989 is widely acknowledged as a watershed in international relations, it is also regarded... more Whilst 1989 is widely acknowledged as a watershed in international relations, it is also regarded as a major upheaval in the course of European integration since its very beginning in the 1950's. The nature of this regard, however, has overwhelmingly been univocal. The relationship between 1989 and the EU is commonly considered as a one-way process, with communism being finally "dissolved" into EU integration. Moreover, changes in the European integration process since 1989 have often been analyzed per se; there have been few attempts, if any, to connect 1989 and the EC/EU in a comprehensive way. The paper questions the unambiguous, linear and one-way character of the prevailing interpretations relating to the impact of 1989 on the European integration process. Through highlighting and discussing several dialectical trends, it sheds light on complex, multifaceted and open processes which call for re-assessing the impact of 1989 on Europe and the way the European Union...
Les élargissements de 2004 et 2007 ont profondément bouleversé les frontières de l'Union eur... more Les élargissements de 2004 et 2007 ont profondément bouleversé les frontières de l'Union européenne, la plaçant au contact d'une partie de l'ex-URSS, à l'Ouest et au Sud de la Fédération de Russie. Les ex-républiques soviétiques désormais frontalières de l'Union européenne ...
The EU’s engagement with its Eastern Neighbourhood is a test of the transformative power of Europ... more The EU’s engagement with its Eastern Neighbourhood is a test of the transformative power of European foreign policy. With crucial elections taking place in Georgia and Ukraine this month, the role of the EU in shaping domestic change in neighbouring states is an important and timely question. Dr. Laure Delcour discussed the difficulty of promoting the EU acquis in states that do not have the prospective of EU membership. Dr. Delcour is leading a project that assesses the impact of European Neighbourhood Policy on the domestic structures and policy preferences of partner states in the East. She presented the findings of the project to date and shared her views on the prospects of change in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood. - See more at: http://www.iiea.com/events/the-eastern-partnership-a-test-case-for-eu-foreign-policy#sthash.tUrdTnyp.dpuf
With the launch of the Eastern Partnership in 2009, the EU stepped up its involvement in Eastern ... more With the launch of the Eastern Partnership in 2009, the EU stepped up its involvement in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. The offer of a closer relationship with Eastern neighbours is contingent upon partner countries converging with EU norms and standards. Effective regulatory approximation in the economic field is therefore critical to anchoring the reform process in partner countries and to fostering further progress in EU’s relations with its Eastern neighbours. Against this backdrop, this briefing paper reviews the achievements to date in regulatory approximation in the economic field in Eastern Partnership countries.
Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) are a vital trade instrument for building up long-term economic relationships with eastern neighbours. They are likely to have a far-reaching influence on the reform process in partner countries. However, legal approximation and implementation of approximated legislation remain key challenges. The briefing highlights five major problems hindering legal approximation in the economic field: the complexity of the acquis to be adopted; institutional coordination; implementation capacities; costs of approximation and political sensitivity in partner countries. The briefing offers recommendations to improve the EU’s approach so that DCFTAs could fulfill their potential.
The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) has been the major framework for
th... more The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) has been the major framework for
the provision of EU assistance to the Eastern and Southern neighbours since 2007. This briefing paper
reviews the EU’s assistance to neighbouring countries in the light of:
- key policy and assistance documents which have structured the ENP and the ENPI since their
creation, e.g. the ENP’s Strategy Papers and Action Plans (AP), the 2006 regulation
establishing the ENPI, Country Strategy Papers (CSP) and National Indicative Programmes
(NIP) for the six countries of the Eastern neighbourhood;
- recent proposals reviewing the ENP and the ENPI, including the new approach on the
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) proposed by the European External Action Service
(EEAS) and the European Commission (EC), the European Commission’s proposal for a
regulation establishing a European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI);
- political, economic, social developments in the neighbourhood which motivated these
reviews;
- the positions of the European Parliament as expressed in its resolutions on the ENP and on the
ENPI reviews.
The paper assesses the extent to which assistance provided under the ENPI has contributed to the
stated goals of the ENP. It is divided into three parts. The first section briefly reviews the ENPI
assistance framework and provides an overview of the progress achieved towards the ENP’s declared
objectives. The second section examines the relevance and effectiveness of EU assistance in light of
the stated ambition to simplify programming and management and to make assistance more effective.
The briefing paper concludes by identifying lessons learnt and recommendations to increase the
relevance and effectiveness of EU support.
The study reviews the ways in which the EU provides support and cooperates with civil society in ... more The study reviews the ways in which the EU provides support and cooperates with civil society in its neighbourhood, in light of:
- EU official statements, policy mechanisms and assistance to support civil society in the neighbourhood
- recent proposals reviewing the ENP and the ENPI, including the new approach on the European Neighbourhood Policy, and the European Commission‟s proposals for new assistance regulations
- CSO’s reports, policy briefs and documents
- political, economic, social developments in the Eastern and Southern neighbourhoods.
The study is divided into three sections. The first section briefly reviews the EU‟s stated ambitions to increase its cooperation with civil society. The second section provides a diagnosis of EU-civil society relations. The third section pays specific attention to EU’s assistance procedures for CSOs.
Enlargement to Bulgaria and Romania, as well as lukewarm assessments issued on EU engagement in s... more Enlargement to Bulgaria and Romania, as well as lukewarm assessments issued on EU engagement in security issues in its neighbourhood, prompted an enhanced EU involvement around the Black Sea, which had been kept until then in the background of EU foreign policy. The Black Sea Synergy was put forward by the European Commission in April 2007 to increase cooperation with and between the countries surrounding the Black Sea. It was designed as a flexible framework complementary to existing EU policies in the region.
Overall, the EU’s engagement in the Black Sea region in general and the Black Sea Synergy’s implementation in particular have been strongly constrained by conditions and factors both internal and external to the Union at the international, EU, and regional levels. However, as a result of its inclusive approach the Black Sea Synergy has the potential to play a useful role in facilitating good neighbourly relations and fostering multilateralism. To improve the Synergy's effectiveness, it is suggested to specify its operational methods (mainly funding and monitoring), to better integrate the Black Sea dimension in EU bilateral relations with partner countries, to further concentrate on a small number of priorities with a view to avoiding dispersion and to systematically promote a grassroots or project-based approach.
Briefing for the European Parliament, co-author Thornike Gordadze, 2010
The briefing examines the reasons underlying the review of the National Indicative Programme (NI... more The briefing examines the reasons underlying the review of the National Indicative Programme (NIP) for Georgia and evaluates the substance of changes brought to assistance priorities and funding against Georgia’s current situation and against the strategic objectives of EU-Georgia relations as identified in the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan (ENP AP) and in the 2007-2013 Country Strategy Paper. The analysis of Country Strategy Paper (CSP) as being still valid and the subsequent preservation of major assistance priorities are considered to be justified in light of recent developments. The challenges faced by Georgia have indeed become more acute but their nature has not changed. Recent political developments highlight the need to consolidate the democratisation process as a prerequisite for a successful implementation of the whole reform process. Against that background, a higher priority status should be granted to the first NIP priority area (Democratic development, rule of law and good governance) and EC assistance should more clearly focus on those actors which are crucial in the consolidation of the democratisation process (e.g. the Parliament and civil society). The emphasis put on regulatory reform is consistent with the intensification of EU-Georgia relations through the Eastern Partnership; however, in the perspective of the forthcoming negotiations for a Deep Free Trade Area, the EC should support capacity-building within the Georgian government to prioritise and monitor the implementation of reforms. Monitoring is also important in light of the broad use of sector budget support so that EC assistance is not negatively affected by an unstable policy environment. To that purpose, benchmarks and indicators should be further specified in the NIP.
A. TRENDS IN GFPS FUNDING AND COMMITMENTS .......................................................... more A. TRENDS IN GFPS FUNDING AND COMMITMENTS .................................................................... ................... 18 B. THE ADDITIONALITY OF THE FINANCIAL RESOURCES MOBILISED BY GFPS............................................... 22 Qualitative aspects of additionality.................................... ...
A decade after the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was launched, and in sharp contrast to the... more A decade after the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was launched, and in sharp contrast to the policy’s initial assumptions, the neighbourhood has not turned into a more prosperous, stable, secure and democratic area. Instead, it is, according to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Frederica Mogherini, a “region in flames, both to the East and to the South”. Based on the March 2015 Joint Consultation Paper’s observation that the EU has “not always been able to offer adequate responses to developments in its neighbourhood”, the 2015 ENP Review has sought to assess what has and what has not worked. However, while the Review signals a major shift of paradigm in the EU’s approach to its neighbourhood, it is unlikely to result in drastic improvements in the EU’s “special relationship” (Art. 8 (1) TEU) with its neighbours as such.
Over the past decade, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has become much more than the polic... more Over the past decade, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has become much more than the policy framework governing the European Union’s relations with adjacent regions. Given the multifaceted and daunting challenges faced by Eastern European, South Caucasus and Southern Mediterranean countries, the neighbourhood has actually emerged as a major test for the EU’s foreign policy as a whole. With the ENP, the EU has responded by projecting to the neighbourhood its own governance and model of economic integration – widely seen as building blocks of prosperity and peace across the continent. By providing guidance for domestic reforms, EU’s rules and policy templates were expected to bring about prosperity, stability and security in the neighbourhood.
However, recent developments across the region suggest that the EU has only partially been able to take up the challenge. This is not only because the motto of a more prosperous and democratic neighbourhood has not materialised. In fact, over the past few years the EU’s neighbourhood has turned into a much more unstable and insecure area, with conflicts de facto threatening regional security and postponing the colossal task of political and economic reforms.
Taking into account altogether the EU’s level of ambition in the neighbourhood, regional realities and the toolbox available to the Union, what can be (and what should be) the exact scope of the changes to be introduced? Should the EU perform a complete overhaul of the ENP? How should the revised ENP look like?
As the paper argues, the ENP needs a shift of paradigm. While also pursuing its own interests and promoting its values, the EU should de-centre the ENP from its own experience and better tailor its policies to partner countries’ needs and circumstances.
The Caucasus is a broken region characterised by local
tensions and conflicting influences of la... more The Caucasus is a broken region characterised by local
tensions and conflicting influences of large regional actors – the EU, Russia and Turkey.
The EU remains highly attractive to South Caucasus
societies but its technocratic and government-focussed policies
have failed with Armenia and Azerbaijan, while reform in
Georgia remains fragile.
• The South Caucasus remains volatile due to the potential for
domestic instability, inflammable protracted conflicts, and Russia’s aggressive role in the region.
The ongoing crisis in Ukraine not only challenges the country’s stability, sovereignty and inte... more The ongoing crisis in Ukraine not only challenges the country’s stability, sovereignty and integrity, it is also the culmination of the increasingly open rivalry between the European Union and Russia over their ‘common’ neighbourhood. Competition between Brussels and Moscow has crystallised in the region around two mutually exclusive integration projects, the Eastern Partnership and the Eurasian Customs Union.
The current crisis involves much more than just the rivalry between two economic integration projects, however. Ultimately, it is likely to turn the area located between the EU and Russia into a fragmented neighbourhood; a highly unstable and volatile region with changing and overlapping external influences and shifting loyalties.
As the paper argues, in reviewing the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership, the EU should be more sensitive towards the existing political, diplomatic, economic, energy and military ties between Russia and the countries in the common neighbourhood. Factoring these ties into the EU’s policies vis-à-vis its Eastern neighbourhood is a prerequisite for more reflective, responsive and effective EU policies.
Für Frankreich korrelierte die Verschlechterung der Partnerschaft zwischen Russland und EU mit ei... more Für Frankreich korrelierte die Verschlechterung der Partnerschaft zwischen Russland und EU mit einer seit dem Jahr 2011 angeschlagenen bilateralen Beziehung, in der die uneinheitlichen Positionen gegenüber Syrien für Distanz sorgten. Die Krise in der Ukraine hat der florierenden französisch-russischen Wirtschaftsbeziehung ein Ende bereitet. Entscheidungen in Paris hängen nun von zwei Parametern ab: dem weiteren Verlauf des Ukrainekonflikts und dessen Auswirkungen auf Entscheidungen auf EU-Ebene.
Pour la France, la détérioration du partenariat russo-européen intervient
dans une relation bila... more Pour la France, la détérioration du partenariat russo-européen intervient
dans une relation bilatérale déjà écornée, depuis 2011, par des positions divergentes
sur le dossier syrien. Mais elle s’inscrit aussi dans une nouvelle dynamique des
liens avec Moscou, notamment l’expansion de relations commerciales longtemps
négligées. Le conflit ukrainien n’a pas changé fondamentalement la nature des
intérêts français dans ce pays, qui restent guidés par les enjeux économiques et
commerciaux et la nécessité d’un dialogue politique. Néanmoins, alors que la crise
en Ukraine a porté un coup d’arrêt à l’essor des liens économiques bilatéraux, la
position française s’inscrit jusqu’ici pleinement dans un cadre européen guidé par
les sanctions à l’encontre de Moscou. Dès lors, les choix qui seront effectués par
Paris (y compris dans la défense de ses intérêts) dépendent avant tout de deux
paramètres : l’évolution de la situation en Ukraine et ses répercussions sur les
décisions qui seront prises au niveau européen.
A new institutional framework was designed under the Eastern Partnership and it has been progress... more A new institutional framework was designed under the Eastern Partnership and it has been progressively established over the past two years to frame the increasingly close relationship between the EU and its Eastern neighbours. This working paper provides an early assessment of the Eastern Partnership’s institutional functioning. It focuses on the multilateral track (thematic platforms and panels, participatory initiatives, flagship initiatives) which for the first time gathers all six Eastern partners and the EU at various levels of representation and in different arenas. The EaP’s multilateral track is thus an attempt to develop a multilayered and participative institutional framework based upon a logic of socialisation.
An examination of the ‘governmental track’ highlights however a discrepancy between levels of cooperation. While panels are assessed very positively and foster links both among Eastern partners and with the EU, other formats, including platform meetings, do not appear to favour joint ownership of the policy process. Another weakness is the current lack of synergies between various institutional formats under the multilateral track. Overall the paper identifies three potential sources of tensions in the EaP functioning:
- EU member states’ uneven engagement in the policy process: while Western European member states’ participation in the multilateral track is weak, their involvement is needed to turn the Eastern Partnership into a EU-wide foreign policy;
- Partner countries’ different level of involvement in the multilateral track, which is perceived by some of them as a ‘one-size-fits-all’exercise;
- The combination, in the multilateral track, of a logic based upon joint ownership, inclusiveness and socialisation with some elements reflecting a more hierarchical approach and limiting participation.
"While the initial Commission Communication on Wider Europe (March 2003) did not include Armenia,... more "While the initial Commission Communication on Wider Europe (March 2003) did not include Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the forthcoming policy for the EU’s new neighbourhood, the Southern Caucasus region has now gained considerable attention in the framework of the ENP and beyond, not least because of security considerations. The ENP undoubtedly represents a step forward in the EU's policy towards Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, yet its implementation highlights major differences between the three countries and important weaknesses in all three of them. The Eastern Partnership addresses some of these weaknesses and it also significantly strengthens the EU's offer to South Caucasus countries, which is now fully in line with the perspectives proposed to the Western NIS. The paper highlights five main conclusions and recommendations:
• Political, economic, social and diplomatic developments in the South Caucasus in the 2000's highlight both diverging trends and the persistence of tensions between the three countries. They also have different aspirations vis-à-vis the EU and different records in ENP implementation. The EU should therefore mainly rely upon an individual approach towards each country.
• While bilateral relations should form the basis of the EU's approach, most of the challenges faced by Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are not confined to national borders and require regional solutions. This applies primarily, but not exclusively, to the unresolved conflicts. The EU should promote targeted regional cooperation including, inter alia, confidence-building measures to address indirectly the protracted conflicts and measures supporting drivers of change, which play a critical role in the confidence-building process;
• Under the ENP, especially since the opening of negotiations for association agreements and with the perspective of DCFTA, trade-related issues, market and regulatory reform have become prominent in the EU's relations with all three Caucasus countries. At the same time, the priorities identified when the ENP was launched, i.e. good governance and the rule of law, still correspond to major challenges in the South Caucasus. The EU should more clearly prioritise good governance and the rule of law as the basis of both the ENP and successful reforms;
• In all partner countries (but even more so in the South Caucasus), ENP implementation has been adversely affected by poor administrative capacities and weak institutional coordination. The EU should increasingly focus on institutional reform/capacity building in its support to partner countries and ensure that the link between the ENP and domestic reform processes is strengthened;
• In the South Caucasus the EU has recently concentrated on a few assistance tools such as budget support, Twinning and TAIEX. While these instruments undoubtedly bring an added value, they should be better combined with tools allowing for greater flexibility and targeting non-governmental actors, e.g. EIDHR/NSA."
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For Russia, the EU’s exercise of ‘normative power’ in the post-Soviet space has resulted in important lesson learning. In particular, Russia has upgraded its approach to regional integration by investing in economic integration with a high degree of institutionalization and legalization to assert its position in the post-Soviet space. With a complex pattern of dependencies on the EU and Russia displayed by the countries in the common neighbourhood, the emergence of the ECU has multiple and far reaching implications for the EU.
For many countries in the common neighbourhood, Russia’s promotion of the ECU appears to be selling ‘old wine in new bottles’. This is especially evident with the use of tried-and-tested mechanisms of influence – such as selective economic sanctions or ‘loyalty discounts’ on energy prices – to promote integration with the new regime. Nevertheless, the countries in-between have to find a formula for interactions with the new economic organization. The case of Ukraine is highly instructive. Russia’s leverage over Ukraine in terms of energy and market access is likely to make Ukraine’s economic integration with the EU even more costly and risky in the short-term and thereby weakening for Ukraine’s regulatory convergence with the EU.
For the partner countries, the co-existence of European and Eurasian integration regimes entails working out their priorities and strategies within the overlapping spheres of integration. The difficulty is compounded by different temporalities promoted by the EU and Russia, with each of them relying on asymmetries vis-a-vis the countries in the neighbourhood. This growing complexity would seem to necessitate from the EU a more self-reflective, purposeful and contextualized policy towards the post-Soviet states to effectively promote economic integration. This is unlikely to be forthcoming in the context of political and economic crises in the EU and the common neighbourhood will remain caught in the overlapping spheres of integration, resulting in a highly precarious regional context.
For Russia, the EU’s exercise of ‘normative power’ in the post-Soviet space has resulted in important lesson learning. In particular, Russia has upgraded its approach to regional integration by investing in economic integration with a high degree of institutionalization and legalization to assert its position in the post-Soviet space. With a complex pattern of dependencies on the EU and Russia displayed by the countries in the common neighbourhood, the emergence of the ECU has multiple and far reaching implications for the EU.
For many countries in the common neighbourhood, Russia’s promotion of the ECU appears to be selling ‘old wine in new bottles’. This is especially evident with the use of tried-and-tested mechanisms of influence – such as selective economic sanctions or ‘loyalty discounts’ on energy prices – to promote integration with the new regime. Nevertheless, the countries in-between have to find a formula for interactions with the new economic organization. The case of Ukraine is highly instructive. Russia’s leverage over Ukraine in terms of energy and market access is likely to make Ukraine’s economic integration with the EU even more costly and risky in the short-term and thereby weakening for Ukraine’s regulatory convergence with the EU.
For the partner countries, the co-existence of European and Eurasian integration regimes entails working out their priorities and strategies within the overlapping spheres of integration. The difficulty is compounded by different temporalities promoted by the EU and Russia, with each of them relying on asymmetries vis-a-vis the countries in the neighbourhood. This growing complexity would seem to necessitate from the EU a more self-reflective, purposeful and contextualized policy towards the post-Soviet states to effectively promote economic integration. This is unlikely to be forthcoming in the context of political and economic crises in the EU and the common neighbourhood will remain caught in the overlapping spheres of integration, resulting in a highly precarious regional context.
Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) are a vital trade instrument for building up long-term economic relationships with eastern neighbours. They are likely to have a far-reaching influence on the reform process in partner countries. However, legal approximation and implementation of approximated legislation remain key challenges. The briefing highlights five major problems hindering legal approximation in the economic field: the complexity of the acquis to be adopted; institutional coordination; implementation capacities; costs of approximation and political sensitivity in partner countries. The briefing offers recommendations to improve the EU’s approach so that DCFTAs could fulfill their potential.
the provision of EU assistance to the Eastern and Southern neighbours since 2007. This briefing paper
reviews the EU’s assistance to neighbouring countries in the light of:
- key policy and assistance documents which have structured the ENP and the ENPI since their
creation, e.g. the ENP’s Strategy Papers and Action Plans (AP), the 2006 regulation
establishing the ENPI, Country Strategy Papers (CSP) and National Indicative Programmes
(NIP) for the six countries of the Eastern neighbourhood;
- recent proposals reviewing the ENP and the ENPI, including the new approach on the
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) proposed by the European External Action Service
(EEAS) and the European Commission (EC), the European Commission’s proposal for a
regulation establishing a European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI);
- political, economic, social developments in the neighbourhood which motivated these
reviews;
- the positions of the European Parliament as expressed in its resolutions on the ENP and on the
ENPI reviews.
The paper assesses the extent to which assistance provided under the ENPI has contributed to the
stated goals of the ENP. It is divided into three parts. The first section briefly reviews the ENPI
assistance framework and provides an overview of the progress achieved towards the ENP’s declared
objectives. The second section examines the relevance and effectiveness of EU assistance in light of
the stated ambition to simplify programming and management and to make assistance more effective.
The briefing paper concludes by identifying lessons learnt and recommendations to increase the
relevance and effectiveness of EU support.
- EU official statements, policy mechanisms and assistance to support civil society in the neighbourhood
- recent proposals reviewing the ENP and the ENPI, including the new approach on the European Neighbourhood Policy, and the European Commission‟s proposals for new assistance regulations
- CSO’s reports, policy briefs and documents
- political, economic, social developments in the Eastern and Southern neighbourhoods.
The study is divided into three sections. The first section briefly reviews the EU‟s stated ambitions to increase its cooperation with civil society. The second section provides a diagnosis of EU-civil society relations. The third section pays specific attention to EU’s assistance procedures for CSOs.
Overall, the EU’s engagement in the Black Sea region in general and the Black Sea Synergy’s implementation in particular have been strongly constrained by conditions and factors both internal and external to the Union at the international, EU, and regional levels. However, as a result of its inclusive approach the Black Sea Synergy has the potential to play a useful role in facilitating good neighbourly relations and fostering multilateralism. To improve the Synergy's effectiveness, it is suggested to specify its operational methods (mainly funding and monitoring), to better integrate the Black Sea dimension in EU bilateral relations with partner countries, to further concentrate on a small number of priorities with a view to avoiding dispersion and to systematically promote a grassroots or project-based approach.
assess what has and what has not worked. However,
while the Review signals a major shift of paradigm in the
EU’s approach to its neighbourhood, it is unlikely to
result in drastic improvements in the EU’s “special
relationship” (Art. 8 (1) TEU) with its neighbours as such.
However, recent developments across the region suggest that the EU has only partially been able to take up the challenge. This is not only because the motto of a more prosperous and democratic neighbourhood has not materialised. In fact, over the past few years the EU’s neighbourhood has turned into a much more unstable and insecure area, with conflicts de facto threatening regional security and postponing the colossal task of political and economic reforms.
Taking into account altogether the EU’s level of ambition in the neighbourhood, regional realities and the toolbox available to the Union, what can be (and what should be) the exact scope of the changes to be introduced? Should the EU perform a complete overhaul of the ENP? How should the revised ENP look like?
As the paper argues, the ENP needs a shift of paradigm. While also pursuing its own interests and promoting its values, the EU should de-centre the ENP from its own experience and better tailor its policies to partner countries’ needs and circumstances.
tensions and conflicting influences of large regional actors – the EU, Russia and Turkey.
The EU remains highly attractive to South Caucasus
societies but its technocratic and government-focussed policies
have failed with Armenia and Azerbaijan, while reform in
Georgia remains fragile.
• The South Caucasus remains volatile due to the potential for
domestic instability, inflammable protracted conflicts, and Russia’s aggressive role in the region.
The current crisis involves much more than just the rivalry between two economic integration projects, however. Ultimately, it is likely to turn the area located between the EU and Russia into a fragmented neighbourhood; a highly unstable and volatile region with changing and overlapping external influences and shifting loyalties.
As the paper argues, in reviewing the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership, the EU should be more sensitive towards the existing political, diplomatic, economic, energy and military ties between Russia and the countries in the common neighbourhood. Factoring these ties into the EU’s policies vis-à-vis its Eastern neighbourhood is a prerequisite for more reflective, responsive and effective EU policies.
dans une relation bilatérale déjà écornée, depuis 2011, par des positions divergentes
sur le dossier syrien. Mais elle s’inscrit aussi dans une nouvelle dynamique des
liens avec Moscou, notamment l’expansion de relations commerciales longtemps
négligées. Le conflit ukrainien n’a pas changé fondamentalement la nature des
intérêts français dans ce pays, qui restent guidés par les enjeux économiques et
commerciaux et la nécessité d’un dialogue politique. Néanmoins, alors que la crise
en Ukraine a porté un coup d’arrêt à l’essor des liens économiques bilatéraux, la
position française s’inscrit jusqu’ici pleinement dans un cadre européen guidé par
les sanctions à l’encontre de Moscou. Dès lors, les choix qui seront effectués par
Paris (y compris dans la défense de ses intérêts) dépendent avant tout de deux
paramètres : l’évolution de la situation en Ukraine et ses répercussions sur les
décisions qui seront prises au niveau européen.
An examination of the ‘governmental track’ highlights however a discrepancy between levels of cooperation. While panels are assessed very positively and foster links both among Eastern partners and with the EU, other formats, including platform meetings, do not appear to favour joint ownership of the policy process. Another weakness is the current lack of synergies between various institutional formats under the multilateral track. Overall the paper identifies three potential sources of tensions in the EaP functioning:
- EU member states’ uneven engagement in the policy process: while Western European member states’ participation in the multilateral track is weak, their involvement is needed to turn the Eastern Partnership into a EU-wide foreign policy;
- Partner countries’ different level of involvement in the multilateral track, which is perceived by some of them as a ‘one-size-fits-all’exercise;
- The combination, in the multilateral track, of a logic based upon joint ownership, inclusiveness and socialisation with some elements reflecting a more hierarchical approach and limiting participation.
• Political, economic, social and diplomatic developments in the South Caucasus in the 2000's highlight both diverging trends and the persistence of tensions between the three countries. They also have different aspirations vis-à-vis the EU and different records in ENP implementation. The EU should therefore mainly rely upon an individual approach towards each country.
• While bilateral relations should form the basis of the EU's approach, most of the challenges faced by Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are not confined to national borders and require regional solutions. This applies primarily, but not exclusively, to the unresolved conflicts. The EU should promote targeted regional cooperation including, inter alia, confidence-building measures to address indirectly the protracted conflicts and measures supporting drivers of change, which play a critical role in the confidence-building process;
• Under the ENP, especially since the opening of negotiations for association agreements and with the perspective of DCFTA, trade-related issues, market and regulatory reform have become prominent in the EU's relations with all three Caucasus countries. At the same time, the priorities identified when the ENP was launched, i.e. good governance and the rule of law, still correspond to major challenges in the South Caucasus. The EU should more clearly prioritise good governance and the rule of law as the basis of both the ENP and successful reforms;
• In all partner countries (but even more so in the South Caucasus), ENP implementation has been adversely affected by poor administrative capacities and weak institutional coordination. The EU should increasingly focus on institutional reform/capacity building in its support to partner countries and ensure that the link between the ENP and domestic reform processes is strengthened;
• In the South Caucasus the EU has recently concentrated on a few assistance tools such as budget support, Twinning and TAIEX. While these instruments undoubtedly bring an added value, they should be better combined with tools allowing for greater flexibility and targeting non-governmental actors, e.g. EIDHR/NSA."