Searching for New Momentum in EU-Russia Relations
Searching for New Momentum in EU-Russia Relations

Contributor(s): Alexander Duleba (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics, Education, Political history, Economic policy, International relations/trade, Security and defense, State/Government and Education, Sociology of Culture, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Geopolitics
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: EU; Russia; politics; diplomacy; relations; Ukraine; security; economy; energy; education; culture;
Summary/Abstract: This publication is an outcome of the research project entitled Regional Strategic Framework for the European Union’s Eastern Policy: Toward a Convergence of the Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy and Common Spaces with Russia. The project is carried out by the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA) with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The aim of the project is to search for a comprehensive regional strategy for the EU policy toward the region of Eastern Europe that would att empt to bridge the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy in the region, i.e. the Eastern Partnership policy framework for EU relations with six post-Soviet countries (Armenia, Azerbaij an, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) with the EU-Russia Common Spaces. The above two strategic frameworks represent the EU’s two diff erent and separate Eastern policy agendas or, in other words, parallel EU policies towards its Eastern neighbours. This research project aims to urge that the above parallelism does not serve the EU in the pursuit of its interests in Eastern Europe, and also that the EU does need to develop a single strategic framework for its Eastern policy. The policy recommendations identify a way to evolve the concepts both of Common Spaces with Russia and the Eastern Partnership frameworks with the aim of achieving the convergence eff ects of both EU policies. The project seeks to contribute to the EU’s ability to become a more ef-  cient foreign policy player in the region as well as to improve its capacity to assist the Eastern European countries in their post-Soviet modernization. This publication is a follow-up to the policy paper entitled The Reform of the European Neighborhood Policy. Tools, Institutions and a Regional Dimension (Bratislava: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, 2008). The paper has scrutinized the Eastern dimension of the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy, including its recently upgraded version in the form of Eastern Partnership, searching for convergence eff ects with the Common Spaces with Russia. This publication o ff ers a complementary analysis, as it primarily focuses on EU relations with Russia and also seeks convergence e ff ects with Eastern Partnership. The authors of parts 1, 2, and 4 of the publication are research fellows of RC SFPA. Alexander Duleba evaluates the present state of a ff airs in EU – Russia relations (part 1) and sums up policy recommendations (part 4). Vladimír Ben č presents lessons learned from the experience of the EU-Russia Common Economic Space (part 2.1.). Vladimír Bil čík analyses EU-Russia cooperation within the Common Space on Freedom, Security and Justice (part 2.2.). Lucia Najšlová accounts for outcomes of EU-Russia interaction within the Common Space on External Security (part 2.3.), and Zuzana Liso ňová looks over EU-Russia cooperation within the Common Space on Research, Education and Culture (part 2.4.). Part 3 of this publication consists of research contributions by external experts. Andrei Zagorski from the Centre for War and Peace Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations explores Russia’s strategic approach toward its relations with the EU (part 3.1.). Elena Klitsounova from the Centre for International and Regional Policy (St. Petersburg) analyses Russia’s perspective on cooperation with the EU under the Common Spaces structure (part 3.2.). And  nally, Iryna Solonenko, the director for European Programmes of the International Renaissance Foundation (Kyiv) presents a Ukrainian perspective on EU-Russia relations (part 3.3.).

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