EU Options on Russia and the Eastern Partners: "cooperative Confrontation" as the Guiding Principle Beyond the Riga Summit

EU Options on Russia and the Eastern Partners:
Author: Kai-Olaf Lang
Publisher:
Total Pages: 7
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

Abstract: "Moscow's hegemonic stance on the post-Soviet space and its provocations in Ukraine force the European Union to find strategic clarity in its eastern neighbourhood. Often in the midst of discontinuous internal reform processes, the countries to the Union's east find themselves hanging between a vague "wider Europe" proposal from Brussels and Moscow's increasingly forceful idea of a "wider Russia". At the May 2015 Riga Summit the EU heads of state and government will meet with their counterparts from the Eastern Partnership, including the new associates Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. The EU should grant these countries political guarantees, material assistance and European perspectives. But the European Union can only develop bilateral and plurilateral European perspectives if it faces up to the Russian factor and realigns its relations with Moscow on the Eastern Policy triangle of stability, cooperation and norm-driven transformation."(Autorenreferat)

Cooperation and Conflict between Europe and Russia

Cooperation and Conflict between Europe and Russia
Author: Magdalena Dembińska
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2021-08-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000437531

When thinking about relations between Europe and Russia, International Relations scholars focus on why conflict has replaced cooperation. The "geostrategic debate" excludes the possible coexistence of cooperation and conflict. Tracking the evolution of conflict and cooperation patterns in three zones of contact (Estonia, Kaliningrad, and Moldova) between 1991 and 2016, this edited volume argues that, although the standard narrative remains compelling, local patterns of cooperation and conflict are partly autonomous from the geostrategic level. To account for the coexistence of cooperation and conflict, the first chapter elaborates a theoretical proposition distinguishing fluid, rigid, and disputed symbolic boundaries, which have different impacts on the ground. The subsequent chapters address distinct dimensions of Euro-Russian relations, paying attention to local reality in Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, or Kaliningrad, different sectors from energy to peoples’ movement, and across institutional contexts such as the EU and NATO. They confirm that the standard narrative holds in most cases, but also that Euro-Russian relations vary in crucial ways according to the interests and representations of actors immersed in specific geopolitical fields. Despite a deterioration of geostrategic relations between Europe and Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, Cooperation and Conflict between Europe and Russia explores the intriguing coexistence of conflict and cooperation at the local level and across sectors and institutions. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal East European Politics.

Beyond Ukraine

Beyond Ukraine
Author: Aldo Ferrari
Publisher: Edizioni Epoké
Total Pages: 69
Release: 2017-07-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 8898014783

During the last 15 years Putin’s policies have produced a number of controversial effects both at the international and domestic levels, some diplomatic results, and unresolved regional conflicts. In foreign policy he accordingly launched the idea of a Greater Europe. To this aim and with the view to highlighting the goodwill of the Russian government to enhance cooperation with the European Union as a pro-active and equal partner. Sooner than expected, political divergences and vital interests emerged. As a result, the Greater Europe project was progressively frozen, if not plainly abandoned. However, the EU-Russia joint attempts to solve the Ukrainian crises, which were undertaken during the “Normandy Four” meetings (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine), resulted in signing the weak – but still important – Minsk agreements. This helps to prove that there is still room for cooperation between the two sides. These agreements may hopefully set the stage for a more comprehensive deal aiming to close the gap between the EU’s and Russia’s competing visions.

The In-betweeners

The In-betweeners
Author: Nelli Babayan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 18
Release: 2016
Genre: Democratization
ISBN:

The bargaining power of some Eastern Partnership countries vis-à-vis the West seems to have increased, although their compliance with the rules and norms promoted by the West have not meaningfully changed or have in some cases even decreased. If the transatlantic partners want to achieve specific reforms in these countries, they need to provide commitment backed up by credibility, consistency, and (smart) conditionality, as well as continuous and clear communication. Western support to Eastern Partnership countries should continue and be in enhanced in return for tangible political and economic reforms, though conditionality should be differentiated and adapted to local conditions. The West should pursue further economic investment and closer security cooperation by providing technical assistance and expertise, especially in border control when necessary. At the same time, the West should more actively engage in negotiations over resolution of so-called frozen conflicts. Clear communication of the West's policies and principles, and the benefits of these for local communities, is important in an environment where local media may be constrained in its freedom, Kremlin-controlled channels have wide reach, and yet there is also noticeable support for the EU.

From Cooperation to Confrontation

From Cooperation to Confrontation
Author: Adrian Pop
Publisher:
Total Pages: 24
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

Relying on the regional security complex theory and statements made by top Russian and EU officials and key decision-makers from the new EU Member States bordering Russia to the East, the article advances three main conclusions. First, that Russia's negative perceptions of the EU's Eastern Partnership initiative explains to a large extent the change of its EU's perception from a strategic ally to a competitor for influence in the shared neighbourhood and the speeding up of the Russian-led Eurasian integration project. Second, that faced with Russia's increasing bullying behaviour in its Eastern neighbourhood in general and Ukraine in particular, the EU has been pushed into a confrontational mode with Russia. Third, that being at the forefront of condemning Russia's aggressive behaviour in Ukraine, the new EU Member States along the Baltic-Black Sea limes have created a new regional security subcomplex within the EU-Europe regional security complex.

The Eastern Question

The Eastern Question
Author: Daniel Sheldon Hamilton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780990772095

The future of Europe's east is open. Can the societies of this vast region become more democratic and secure and integrate into the European mainstream? Or are they destined to become failed, fractured lands of grey mired in the stagnation and turbulence historically characteristic of Europe's borderlands? How and why is Russia seeking to influence these developments, and what is the future of Russia itself? How should the West engage?

The European Union and its Eastern Neighbours

The European Union and its Eastern Neighbours
Author: Elena Korosteleva
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2012-05-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136471790

This book explores the EU’s relations with its eastern neighbours. Based on extensive original research – including surveys, focus-groups, a study of school essays and in-depth interviews with key people in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia and in Brussels – it assesses why the EU’s initiatives have received limited legitimacy in the neighbourhood. The European Neighbourhood Policy of 2004, and the subsequent Eastern Partnership of 2009 heralded a new form of relations with the EU’s neighbours – partnership based on joint ownership and shared values – which would complement if not entirely replace the EU’s traditional governance framework used for enlargement. These initiatives have, however, received a mixed response from the EU’s eastern neighbours. The book shows how the key elements of partnership have been forged mainly by the EU, rather than jointly, and examines the idea and application of external governance, and how this has been over-prescriptive and confusing.

The EU and Crisis Response

The EU and Crisis Response
Author: Professor in Defence Development and Diplomacy Roger Mac Ginty
Publisher:
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2021-09
Genre: Crises
ISBN: 9781526148353

A state-of-the-art consideration of the European Union's crisis response mechanisms based on comparative fieldwork in a number of cases.