Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 12/2008

False Premises, Sound Principles: The Way Forward in EU-Russia Relations

Hiski Haukkala

April 2008

Finnish Institute for International Affairs

Abstract

The post-Cold War EU–Russia relationship has been based on erroneous premises: Russia has not been willing to live up to its original aims of pursuing a western democratic and liberal path; nor have the European Union and its member states been able to develop a coherent policy line that would have consistently nudged Russia in that direction.