Eastern Partnership: The Next Five Years between Brussels and Moscow
Eastern Partnership: The Next Five Years between Brussels and Moscow

Author(s): Michal Lebduška, Václav Lídl
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: AMO – Asociace pro mezinárodní otázky
Keywords: EU-Russia relations; Ukraine territorial integrity; sanctions; Eastern Partnership; Moldova reforms; energy security; Georgia security; democratization; Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; Silk Roads initiative;
Summary/Abstract: In May 2014, we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative. Nonetheless, it is not clear if there are any reasons to celebrate this occasion amid the worsening situation in Ukraine and other member states of the EaP. The Vilnius Summit in last November should have marked the success of the EU eastern policy and its principal instrument – the Eastern Partnership. However, Russia unraveled its new neo-imperial policy and spoiled the awaited European victory. Moscow revealed that it was prepared to withstand the West in case when it considered its vital interests to be imperiled. Hence, the next five years of the Eastern Partnership will be presumably characterized by the clash between the European and Eurasian integration models and value systems. This conflict will define not only the destiny of the EaP states but also the fate of the European continent at large. The presented policy paper will focus on the prospect developments in the EaP countries and their relations to seats of power in Brussels and Moscow. At first, the new Russia’s approach to its “Near Abroad” shall be discussed. Then, individual member countries of the EaP will be described. Based on that, recommendations to the EU are provided.

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