CIAO DATE: 04/2008
Volume: 3, Issue: 1
January 2007
In Search for EU Foreign Policy (PDF)
Dov Lynch
This paper explores questions concerning the EU approach towards its Eastern neighbors, as well as the guiding premises of EU foreign policy towards these states without promising to answer them fully. The argument is divided into three parts, starting, first, with a discussion of the ‘foreign policy’ framework that the EU had built with enlargement and the challenges this framework now faces. Second, the paper examines the European Neighborhood Policy in light of the wider questions raised above. Third, the paper finishes with thoughts on what could be done to strengthen the EU foreign policy profile.
The EU's Interests and Instruments vis-à-vis its Neighbors (PDF)
Tuula Yrjölä
This article examines the question of developing the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) particularly in relation to the eastern neighborhood of the EU, and proposes to make use of the thematic dimension suggested by the Commission to overcome apprehensions about focusing on a particular geographic dimension. It is also proposed that much of what needs to be done to enhance the Union’s relations with its eastern neighbors can in fact be accomplished through already existing policy and mechanisms.
Why the EU Needs Only One Eastern Policy: Deficits of the Existing Framework (PDF)
Alexander Duleba
At present, the EU applies several and separate strategic frameworks for developing its relations with Eastern neighbours: 1) building four common spaces with Russia within the EU-Russia bilateral framework; 2) European neighbourhood policy (ENP) concept in relations with Ukraine and Moldova, which frames also bilateral EUUkraine and EU-Moldova agendas; and 3) a non-existent one that is represented by the EU’s frozen relations with Belarus. The above three strategic frameworks represent three different and separate EU’s Eastern policy agendas or, in other words, parallel policies of the EU towards its Eastern neighbours. Does this parallelism serve the EU in enforcing its interests in Eastern Europe? Does the EU need three/or more or one strategic framework for developing its relations with East European countries? The contribution aims to reason the need for both a new and one strategic framework for the EU’s Eastern policy.
European Neighborhood Policy and Beyond the Priorities of the German EU Presidency (PDF)
Iris Kempe
To react on the incentives from Eastern Europe Germany already on the eve of its presidency announced an ENP Plus and a new strategic framework for Russia and a European Strategy for Central Asia. During the first month of the German presidency current issues, such as the energy conflict between Minsk and Moscow and its political implications, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech at the Munich Security Conference on 10 February 2007 confronted Berlin with pressure to react directly on behalf of the European Union. The first two months of the German presidency are perceived as a critical to the extent that Germany can fulfill the expectations of a European actor for a new Eastern policy.
Buffer Rus: New Challenges for EU Policy towards Belarus (PDF)
Balázs Jarábik, Alastair Rabagliati
A new era has begun in the history of Belarus. The EU's new central and Eastern European member states have pushed the EU to give greater attention to Belarus. At the same time, protests surrounding the 2006 presidential elections significantly increased Western attention to developments in Minsk. In addition, the January 2007 energy dispute with Russia appears to be a watershed from which Belarus will not be able to return, as Russia has begun phasing out its economic subsidies, undermining the economic and political foundations of Alexander Lukashenko's regime.
Energy Security: Real and Fictional Problems (PDF)
Mikhail G. Delyagin
The issue of energy security is a complex problem with its practical and theoretical dimensions. The article assesses this concept from both perspectives offering the analysis of the Russian relation and commitments to the EU in terms of energy security and vice versa as well as the view on Ukrainian crisis from the Russian perspective. It also attempts to respond to the some of the EU's complaints towards Russia concerning the energy issue.
Ukraine-EU Relations:Assessment and Prognosis (PDF)
Oleksandr Sushko
In 2005-2006 Ukraine achieved progress in its relations with the European Union. In the political sphere it held fair and democratic parliamentary elections on March 26, 2006. In the economic sphere it completed the adjustment of national laws according to the WTO standards. In the field of foreign policy it aligned itself with EU positions in most of critical international issues, and actively cooperated with the Republic of Moldova in customs and border-related matters. At the same time, prospects look uncertain, as parties have different conceptual approaches to further relations, including new enhanced agreement to be concluded.
REVIEW: Milan Hodža v zápase o budúcnosť strednej Európyv rokoch 1939 – 1944.
Dušan Škvarna
Lucia Najšlová