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Polazeći od pozitivnog iskustva uključivanja osnovnih načela Kopenhaških pristupnih kriterijuma (1993) na postkomunističku političku i ekonomsku demokratizaciju u prostoru srednje-istočne i baltičke Evrope, Ijan Maners je odredio ‘evropsku normativnu moć’ kao sposobnost Evropske unije da širi svoj međunarodni uticaj putem normi, pre nego putem političke moći svojih država-članica. Autor navodi da je, od početka ispoljavanja zamora za proširenjem sredinom 2000-ih, relevantnost evropske normativne moći u opadanju, te da je realpolitika ponovo postala osnovni faktor odlučivanja u spoljnoj politici Evropske unije. U nedostatku jasnih izgleda za pristupanje Evropskoj uniji, brojne političke inicijative vezane za stabilnost i bezbednost Zapadnog Balkana (ZB) ostale su bez većih rezultata. Autor zaključuje da je naglo ‘uvećanje’ procesa proširenja nakon ruske invazije na Ukrajinu (i to na zemlje koje su u manjoj meri nego ZB ispunjavale norme i standarde članstva u EU) dodatno potkopalo evropsku normativnu moć u korist (slabe) političke moći i realpolitike u odnosu s tim zemljama. takav pristup nema dobru perspektivu da obezbedi regionalnu stabilnost, efikasno promoviše mir i demokratiju, niti pruži mapu puta ka članstvu u EU.

Moldova’s aspiration to join the European Union is on the rise, but at the same time the extremist parties in member states are gaining support. Given that the EU’s enlargement policy is contested by extremists, and that a state’s accession also depends on the vote of its current members, we analyze trends in French political discourse regarding the association agreements, EU enlargement and the Republic of Moldova.

This paper analyzes the evolution and impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the economies of the Eastern Partnership countries of the European Union, with a special focus on the Republic of Moldova. The study highlights Moldova's lagging FDI inflows compared to its regional counterparts due to a slower transition to a market economy, political instability, and dependence on Russia. While Moldova has made progress in attracting investments from the European Union, particularly after signing the Association Agreement in 2014, Russia remains a significant source of FDI for the period of 1991-2019. Key industries, including energy, automotive, and financial services, benefit from these investments, though Moldova's reliance on a narrow set of countries poses challenges. The paper also examines the role of privatization in shaping Moldova's FDI landscape and discusses how political and economic events such as the 2014 banking scandal and geopolitical tensions in Ukraine influenced FDI patterns. The findings suggest that while Moldova's FDI stock has grown, it remains vulnerable to external shocks and heavily influenced by regional dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU relations with its eastern neighbours have been pursued with the goal of building a 'ring of friends' contributing towards security and stability-building, through reforms' implementation and the development of closer relations. This transformative agenda met, however, some criticism and resistance from Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 changed profoundly the setting for these relations, including the accession requests coming from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, along with the cut off of relations with Russia and Belarus. The implied debordering and rebordering dynamics taking place show the complexity of material and symbolic bordering practices. Through a critical border studies approach, this paper seeks to unpack these bordering dynamics and how they are reconfiguring the European space, arguing the EU has become locus of resistance for countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia assuring their European identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates energy regionalism in wider Europe, examining extra-regional and intra-regional challenges. In recent years, the European Union (EU) has taken concrete steps to enhance its energy security and reduce its dependence on Russia. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has further highlighted the critical dimension of the energy crisis between Russia and the EU. This study emphasizes the vital role of sub-regional energy dynamics in regional policy formulation and criticizes the EU's regional approach. In this realm, the article assesses the EU's Eastern Partnership through the Caucasus Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and the Northeast Europe Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus). Thus, countries' recent initiatives will be investigated to demonstrate how they cope with issues of energy security. In the end, the article underlines the necessity for the adoption of tailor-made sub-regional energy policies by the EU. For Northeast Europe Eastern Partnership countries, the EU needs to support energy market liberalization and stability, invest in critical infrastructural developments, foster effective dispute resolution mechanisms, and maintain transparent transit conditions. For Caucasus Eastern Partnership countries, the EU needs to facilitate multilateral energy cooperation and dialogue, promote energy market liberalization, and facilitate energy interconnection. In short, strong political leadership and continuous efforts to foster collaboration and interconnectivity in wider Europe are necessary to enhance energy security.

The EU's Eastern enlargement in 2004 was marked by the entry of mostly smaller states, whose ability to shape the external direction of the EU was questioned. However, the EU's response to the war in Ukraine has shown how important the Eastern dimension of external policy is for the EU and that this Easternisation of the EU has occurred precisely in the wake of the 2004 enlargement. This is due to the fact that these states have been able to push their own narratives in the discourse on the EU's Eastern direction, particularly in the case of the Eastern Partnership. This article analyses the discourse of Central and Eastern European states regarding the Eastern partnership, specifically the narratives of the official documents of three Baltic and four Visegrad group countries in the 2009-2022 period. The analysis made it possible to identify narrative structures and showed that the narratives are relatively similar in the selected countries. Despite the lack of cooperation between the two groups and the West's neglect of the Eastern Partnership policy, they were able to individually strengthen their position in the EU and maintain the discussion about the Eastern Partnership at the EU level as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopts a realist approach to explore how geopolitical factors influence the European Union’s (EU) decision to expand into neighbouring regions of strategic importance or vulnerability to major powers’ influence. It specifically examines the obstacles posed by the absence of a unanimous stance on „pre-scheduled” accessions, as seen in the earlier „eastern enlargement” rounds. It is argued that the present geopoliticized EU enlargement policy seems to be guided by realist factors, although it is characterized by an incongruity between strategic rhetoric and strategic actions. This inconsistency between expressed intentions and actual measures is more evident in the Western Balkans than in the Eastern neighbourhood. Through the selected, broadly set realist elements – groupism, egoism and power-centrism – the EU’s foreign policy strategy and behaviour are examined, searching for a gap between the discursive and practical domains in both regions. The research considers that the EU’s response has not predominantly been strategic but rather tactical, reflecting the enlargement policy’s longstanding deficiencies, coupled with the urgent need to extend commitments to the eastern partners facing immediate security threats. Such tendencies are disadvantageous for the Western Balkans, which became a lower priority for the EU despite its chronological precedence in the enlargement domain. While ideally, both enlargement regions should be granted an „accession timetable” along with on-ground democratic reforms, the authors highlight that due to differing geopolitical dynamics and pressure, the outcomes for the two regions may either diverge in terms of potential favouring of the new candidates or, perhaps more likely, converge – meaning that the accession of either region might be postponed once the geopolitical urgency subsides.

Year 2022 brought increasing uncertainty and new challenges around the world, including in the European Union (EU), mainly related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its direct and indirect effects for all EU Member States. Europe finds itself in a difficult situation which provokes reflection on the current shape of the EU’s security policy and the need to rethink and structure its stipulations. Faced with Russian aggression against Ukraine, the EU has implemented a number of new foreign policy initiatives and measures to support both the economy of Ukraine and of its member states. This article explores the issue of EU and Ukrainian economic security in the context of the financial and economic intervention measures taken by the Union to maintain sustainable development in the region. The EU support is helping Ukraine to survive, while on the other hand the EU has certain demands regarding Ukrainian reforms and certain aspects of its policies. These sensitive issues regarding the inadequacy of the EU’s role in relation to recent challenges are topical in the debate in Ukraine.

The strategy of power games and peaceful diplomacy in the media and new media age are essential in defining the rules and values of the global political system. Soft power becomes a key tool for strengthening the global position and promoting the positive image of states at the international level. This study explores the concept of soft power and highlights the importance of the Erasmus+ Program in EU diplomacy. Erasmus+ facilitates international cooperation in education, culture and European values, thereby influencing global policy. Through this program, the EU can promote dialogue, pluralism and democracy, having a significant impact on the enlargement process of the European Union and on international relations in the regions of the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans. In the course of this article, we will analyze the objectives and the implementation methods of the Erasmus+ Program in the regions of the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans, in order to show that this is an effective soft power tool of the European Union.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine at the end of February 2022, which escalated into the Russian-Ukrainian war, led to significant changes in contemporary international relations. This article explores how the war changed the European Union and Russia’s relationship and affected the Eastern Partnership’s dynamics. The goal is to contribute to the ongoing dialogues about the complexity of the conflict and its profound implications for regional security and stability through the afore-mentioned aspects of the analysis. The main findings indicate that the events in Ukraine triggered in 2014 created a more complex security environment, significantly changing the previous dynamics of EU-Russia relations and increasing tensions. Tension culminated after Vladimir Putin’s bold proposals from December 2021, presented as a kind of ultimatum that should have ensured Russia a fair place in the new European security architecture, were left without a response from the West. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, in an effort to achieve security and broader European stability, there was a need for a redesign and change of focus in the European security architecture. However, not in the way that Russia demanded. Furthermore, the Ukraine crisis and Russia’s subsequent attack on the country have raised concerns among the EU’s eastern neighbours about their security and sovereignty. That is why, despite the challenges of implementing political and economic reforms, these countries received increased support from the EU through the Eastern Partnership. Moreover, although the previous forms of cooperation did not provide a possibility for the membership of these countries in the EU, Ukraine and Moldova also received the status of membership candidates. The war in Ukraine also highlighted the limits of the EU’s normative power, underscoring the importance of hard power, further enhancing defence cooperation at the EU level, and cooperation with NATO as a collective defence mechanism. Thus, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has had a profound and lasting impact on the security dynamics of Europe, reshaping the interactions of key regional actors. Russia-Ukraine war, EU-Russia relations, Eastern Partnership

The EU’s Eastern enlargement in 2004 was marked by the entry of mostly smaller states, whose ability to shape the external direction of the EU was questioned. However, the EU’s response to the war in Ukraine has shown how important the Eastern dimension of external policy is for the EU and that this Easternisation of the EU has occurred precisely in the wake of the 2004 enlargement. This is due to the fact that these states have been able to push their own narratives in the discourse on the EU’s Eastern direction, particularly in the case of the Eastern Partnership. This article analyses the discourse of Central and Eastern European states regarding the Eastern partnership, specifically the narratives of the official documents of three Baltic and four Visegrad group countries in the 2009–2022 period. The analysis made it possible to identify narrative structures and showed that the narratives are relatively similar in the selected countries. Despite the lack of cooperation between the two groups and the West’s neglect of the Eastern Partnership policy, they were able to individually strengthen their position in the EU and maintain the discussion about the Eastern Partnership at the EU level as a result.

Copyright of Ankara Review of European Studies (ARES) / Ankara Avrupa Çalışmaları Dergisi (AAÇD) is the property of Ankara University European Union Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the European Union's role as a promoter of democracy in the countries participating in the EU's Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative. Particular attention is paid to those tools used by the EU to promote democracy in the specified countries, namely: political and diplomatic actions, election observation, international cooperation, EU development assistance for effective governance and civil society, sanctions, various platforms and democracy support funds, and financial support. In order to assess the state of democracy in the countries of the EaP, a number of indices were considered, namely: the Freedom House Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index and the Eastern Partnership Integration Index to clarify the correlation between the integration processes of Eastern Partnership countries and the effectiveness of reforms. In addition, the authors used the data of the Normandy Index for 2019-2023, which captures, among others, the state of democratic processes. The research hypothesis states that EU's influence on the countries of the Eastern Partnership in terms of democratisation is not always effective, due to both exogenous and endogenous factors. The mechanisms applied by the EU should complement/intensify the internal transformations of the EaP countries that foster democratisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the critical role of higher education reforms in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries since their independence as they endeavor to align their systems with European standards and norms, ultimately seeking closer integration with the European Union (EU). The EaP countries, comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, have embarked on ambitious journeys of transformation in their higher education sectors to foster economic development, enhance academic excellence, and strengthen regional cooperation. The article employs a comprehensive approach, encompassing both policy analysis and empirical insights to shed light on the multifaceted nature of higher education reforms across the region. It delves into the various challenges and opportunities faced by the EaP countries in their pursuit of European integration through higher education reforms. The key themes explored include the alignment of the national higher education reforms with the Bologna Declaration guidelines including the promotion of internationalization and quality assurance mechanisms emphasizing the importance of crossborder collaboration and knowledge exchange. It critically assesses the progress made so far, highlighting successes and identifying persistent obstacles. Moreover, it examines the role of international organizations and the EU programs in supporting these reforms. The analysis highlights the importance of higher education reforms in the EaP region not only as an instrument for achieving European integration but also as a catalyst for broader societal and economic transformations. The research data collected refer to the period of 1991-2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Political Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article conducts a scientific and practical study of the organizational and legal issues of the integration of the transport system of Ukraine into both European and world transport systems with the aim of forming and further developing a single trans-European transport network. The international documents of the European Union and the national legislation of Ukraine in the international transport sphere were analyzed in order to identify problematic issues, search for effective organizational and legal mechanisms for their solution and priority forms of cooperation in this sphere. Іt was revealed that the main concepts, ways to achieve the goal and even specific actions regarding the creation of a modern transport network are outlined in the strategy of the European Commission "Transport - 2050: road map for the formation of the Single European transport space - on the way to a competitive and resource-efficient transport system" - " White book - 2011". One of the main goals of cooperation in accordance with the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand, was specified, and its content was formed. It was emphasized that the situation with European integration in the international transport sphere remains difficult and this is a negative phenomenon and a joint responsibility of the Government and the Parliament regarding the obligations of Ukraine's implementation of mandatory and directly related regulations and directives of the European Union. The necessary steps for the implementation of the organizational and legal mechanism of European integration processes regarding the liberalization of international transportation and the development of the international transport sphere with the European Union and its member states are proposed, which can be the conclusion of bilateral agreements between Ukraine and the European Union on the simplification of the permit system between Ukraine and the member states of the European Union. of the Union for transit transportation by transport, making appropriate changes to already existing bilateral agreements regarding the conditions of transit transportation of goods between Ukraine and the member states of the European Union, in general, resolving issues regarding the obligations of implementing the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand, in the field of infrastructure, acceleration of the stages of reform in Ukraine within the framework of the implementation of the Association Agreement, in particular, the approval by the parliament of European integration bills in the field of transport infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries in the European Union's neighborhood, such as those in the Eastern Partnership (EaP), have a particular interest in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) because investment inflows can guarantee them a number of advantages needed for accession. This paper proposes a comparative analysis of the investment attractiveness of the EaP countries in the period 2005-2019 considering the institutional theory of FDI inflows. The research methodology considers a quantitative approach that uses the composite index as a tool. The results show that half of the EaP countries have a high level of investment attractiveness, while the institutional quality has an important influence on attracting FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the foundation of the European Communities during the 1950s, enlargement of these organisations has been an important goal, as well as, in some cases, a challenge to the existing legal and political paradigm. In this article we set out to present the evolution of the accession process and the particularities present in specific cases, specifically those of the countries forming what is called the Eastern Neighbourhood, in order to evaluate Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia’s likelihood of becoming a fully-fledged member of the European Union, and the probable timeline.

Countries in the European Union’s neighborhood, such as those in the Eastern Partnership (EaP), have a particular interest in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) because investment inflows can guarantee them a number of advantages needed for accession. This paper proposes a comparative analysis of the investment attractiveness of the EaP countries in the period 2005–2019 considering the institutional theory of FDI inflows. The research methodology considers a quantitative approach that uses the composite index as a tool. The results show that half of the EaP countries have a high level of investment attractiveness, while the institutional quality has an important influence on attracting FDI. First published online 09 January 2024

Year 2022 brought increasing uncertainty and new challenges around the world, including in the European Union (EU), mainly related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its direct and indirect effects for all EU Member States. Europe finds itself in a difficult situation which provokes reflection on the current shape of the EU's security policy and the need to rethink and structure its stipulations. Faced with Russian aggression against Ukraine, the EU has implemented a number of new foreign policy initiatives and measures to support both the economy of Ukraine and of its member states. This article explores the issue of EU and Ukrainian economic security in the context of the financial and economic intervention measures taken by the Union to maintain sustainable development in the region. The EU support is helping Ukraine to survive, while on the other hand the EU has certain demands regarding Ukrainian reforms and certain aspects of its policies. These sensitive issues regarding the inadequacy of the EU's role in relation to recent challenges are topical in the debate in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new EU global strategy is being formed, as opposed to the European Security Strategy, which no longer corresponds to the geopolitical environment. In accordance with the evolution of security threats at the basis of the Global Strategy, the trends of ensuring unity within the EU and its global leadership, as well as strengthening the EU’s defence capabilities and changing its security approaches are now becoming of vital importance. It is the security structural transformations that currently pose the task of geopolitical repositioning to international actors in the global security system. In the conditions of such restructuring, the role of the EU in resolving international conflicts is given a special place. It is obvious that its classic approaches to conflict resolution have lost their perspective.

The main purpose of the paper is to analyse the role of the European Parliament (EP) in the reconsideration of the EU eastern policy in the light of Russian full-scale military aggression against Ukraine. With the view to reaching the stated objective, the following research tasks are taken into consideration. First, particular attention is paid to the change of the EP approach toward the issue of eastern policy building in the aftermath of the 2019 elections and after the 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In order to define the transformative potential of the EP in the institutional system of the European Union (EU) as regards the eastern dimension of its neighbourhood policy, the analysis covers selected resolutions and recommendations as well as key political addresses delivered by leaders of the EP, European Council and European Commission. Second, the study presents the context of the foreign policy structural competition between the EU and Russia putting particular emphasis on the role of institutions mentioned above in the process of foreign policy-making and on the nature of the EU support for the democratisation processes in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region before the 24 February 2022. Finally, there is made an attempt to evaluate the steps undertaken by the EP in order to reform the EU eastern policy and enhance support for the Europeanisation processes in partner states aimed at democratic transformation of the region.

Contestation remains a significant factor in the EU neighbourhood. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the role of external actors – namely the European Union and the Russian Federation – in managing local and regional contestation. The latter is defined as incompatibilities between two or more competing views about how political, economic, social, and territorial order should be established and/or sustained. Competing interests between the EU and Russia concern many issues; the model of political system in the neighbourhood (democracy vs. authoritarianism), the model and direction of the economic integration of these countries (European or Eurasia integration), and the infrastructure and availability of gas and oil (energy disputes). The common neighbourhood, which concerns EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine), has become an area of rivalry rather than cooperation between the EU and Russia. The first seeks to stabilise the post-Soviet area, while Russia exploits local destabilisations and conflicts to maintain its influence there.

The European Union's (EU) mission to promote its idea of European-ness across the continent led to its eastern enlargements and later the Eastern Partnership of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Along the way, this mission encountered competing norms and regional integration efforts shaped by sociocultural and historical ties connecting state, society and territory. These ties inform the barriers to Europeanisation and the backsliding from EU-managed policy reforms. They can illuminate where the EU's self-image and constructed European identity do not reflect perspectives abroad or those of EU member countries. Such inconsistencies in the EU-constructed identity that shaped related policy mechanisms prevented sustainable regional transformation and integration. Further policy integration and future EU enlargement remain strong possibilities, as does the risk of basing the next generation of policy mechanisms on a distorted image of the EU and its capacity to transform. In this article, I apply a novel critical theory perspective on the entwined processes of de- and reterritorialisation to this context, and argue that this perspective clarifies and informs the EU's aim to transform and unite Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article was to examine how Germany, Italy and Spain practice digital public diplomacy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia countries in 2022, i.e., how they promote their countries through their embassies? Facebook profiles. Three research questions posed by the authors were: 1) Which social networks and applications have embassies of Germany, Italy, and Spain used in the countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia to inform and communicate with different audiences?; 2) Which soft power tools were dominantly communicated by the German, Italian, and Spanish embassies on Facebook profiles in countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia during 2022 to promote their own countries?; and 3) Are digital diplomacy tools of Germany, Italy, and Spain, that they utilize to promote their own countries and communicate with the public of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia, following their foreign policy focus? The authors have used quantitative content and thematic analysis to answer these questions. The results were presented with the use of descriptive statistics. The authors? findings indicated that digital diplomacy 2.0 is standard practice for Germany and Italy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia. Less information was available regarding Spain's digital diplomacy efforts. The research's findings further demonstrated that Germany and Italy exhibit greater interest in the Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries compared to Spain, which was concordant with their foreign policy focuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article was to examine how Germany, Italy and Spain practice digital public diplomacy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia countries in 2022, i.e., how they promote their countries through their embassies’ Facebook profiles. Three research questions posed by the authors were: 1) Which social networks and applications have embassies of Germany, Italy, and Spain used in the countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia to inform and communicate with different audiences?; 2) Which soft power tools were dominantly communicated by the German, Italian, and Spanish embassies on Facebook profiles in countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia during 2022 to promote their own countries?; and 3) Are digital diplomacy tools of Germany, Italy, and Spain, that they utilize to promote their own countries and communicate with the public of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia, following their foreign policy focus? The authors have used quantitative content and thematic analysis to answer these questions. The results were presented with the use of descriptive statistics. The authors’ findings indicated that digital diplomacy 2.0 is standard practice for Germany and Italy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia. Less information was available regarding Spain’s digital diplomacy efforts. The research’s findings further demonstrated that Germany and Italy exhibit greater interest in the Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries compared to Spain, which was concordant with their foreign policy focuses.

After the fall of the communist regimes, the former Eastern bloc countries stated that they wanted to join the European Community. However, the legacy of Soviet socio-economic systems and structures made it difficult for the countries of Eastern Europe to integrate faster into the Community. Nevertheless, the accession of the former communist states, in the opinion of former European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, has served as an anchor for stability and democracy and an engine of personal freedom and economic dynamism in Europe. The enlargement process has made a positive contribution to narrowing the gap between East and West in terms of democracy, although progress among post-communist countries is still lower than in "Western European" states. In the context of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian troops and the global crisis that arose from this event, the integration of Ukraine into the European Union seems more palpable than ever. This paper tries to explain the relationship between the EU and Ukraine since the latter managed to gain its independence from Russia and became part of the Eastern Partnership and to come up with a possible scenario of how the enlargement process will take place from here onwards for the countries that are on the Russian line of fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the Eastern Partnership (EaP) as the initiative of the European Union (EU) through the prism of the constructivist concepts of soft power, normative power and transformative power. The research focuses on the assessment of the EU’s transformative strength in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, based on the analysis of declared EU policy goals and instruments and the real results of political reforms in partner countries. The results of the study show that the EaP has little transformative impact and needs further revision. The analysis of empirical indicators in the field of political transformation of the EaP countries shows that since its inception, as well as after the signing of Association Agreements with three countries and the renewal of the European Neighborhood Policy in 2015, no radical changes have been made, and the EU’s influence on the course of reforms has been insignificant. Institutional and geopolitical constraints and challenges that complicate the EU’s ability to influence its eastern neighbours are addressed. The article analyses prospects for strengthening the effectiveness of the EaP in the context of its latest update after 2020.

The implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004 was an instrument established to achieve a rapprochement between the countries of Eastern Europe and the Southern Mediterranean with the European Union. Since this common policy began, it has evolved very differently in the distinct countries that are part of it. One such country is Ukraine, which has developed special relations with the European Union. So much so that, since the implementation of a specific dimension called the Eastern Partnership in 2009, relations have been fluctuating between Ukraine and the European Union

Abstract: In the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, the subject of geographical indications is particularly important. Although the approach to the subject of GIs in the EaP countries is uneven and differs from country to country, the attention that each of these states pays at the national level to the field of geographical indications cannot be neglect. In countries such as Georgia and Moldova, the development of the GI system is one of the national strategic objectives. This interest is largely due to those economic benefits offered by the implementation of the geographical indications system, especially in countries where the share of the agri-food sector in GDP is significant. Despite the fact that challenges regarding the implementation of the association agreement in the part concerning geographical indications in the EaP countries are quite similar, there are no complex studies regarding the implementation of the geographical indications systems in the Eastern Partnership Countries. The main purpose of this paper is to fulfill the existing gap and to analyze the current situation in the field of GI highlighting best practices but also the vulnerabilities of the GI system in the EaP countries.

Agriculture and development of rural areas are important sectors of Polish-Moldovan cooperation and development aid. Importantly, both of them constitute structural problems, similar to those which faced agriculture in Poland in the 1990s. Through Polish aid and development cooperation, various measures are initiated which increase the competitiveness of Moldovan agricultural production, improve sanitary and phytosanitary conditions, bring technological innovations in agricultural farms, ensure modernization of rural infrastructure, providing support to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and agricultural consultants, along with professional activation of the Republic’s residents.

Aim. To analyze Russian Foreign Policy Concepts of 1993, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2016, and 2023 and to find out what changes were made to the chapters dealing with Russia’s foreign policy towards the post-Soviet states after the EU had started its active policy in the region.Methodology. The study relies on the source analysis, historical-chronological and comparative analysis. Comparison was made of Russia’s Foreign Policy Concepts from different years in terms of their formulations regarding the development of the EU’s Eastern policy; the study of EU documents was carried out. Results. The adjustment of the Russian foreign policy tasks towards the post-Soviet states was caused by the EU's Eastern policy. But, despite the obvious increase in tension between the key participants in international relations, in Russian Foreign Policy Concepts of 2008, 2013 and 2016 proposed to generally consider the Euro-Atlantic space as a zone of cooperation with the West. Only in 2023 the policy of the West was defined as unfriendly in Russian strategic documents.Research implications. The results of the study can be used in the analysis of international relations among the post-Soviet states and in Europe in general.

Our aim is to problematize Europeanization through education in EaP countries by studying the promotion of EU studies in higher education. The paper discusses the educational dimension of Europeanization in EaP countries from three interrelated perspectives - social constructivism, the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and a post-structuralist reading of centrality and marginality. We specifically focus on a series of international projects developed by the University of Tartu (Estonia) in partnership with other EU-based and non-EU universities from the EaP. We used qualitative data from reports of 4 EU-funded cooperation projects and also student’s views obtained in 2 focus groups that explored how the EU is taught and discussed. In the end, the added value of the article is that it offers a critical view on teaching about the EU in the Eastern neighborhood, focusing on local perspectives on EU-funded projects in higher education.

This paper maintains that Historical Institutionalism – with its emphasis on such concepts as path dependency, time, continuity and change, critical junctures, and unintended consequences – serves as a valuable theoretical tool in explaining the why and how of the European Union developing from a strictly economic union during the first forty years of its existence towards a political union with a global foreign policy agenda in the post-Cold War period. Discussing the EU’s post-1989 foreign policy development and zooming in on the EU’s policy towards Eastern Europe to illustrate its argument, the paper argues that Brussels’ participation in global politics has for long been in the making. More specifically, four elements that have determined – and continue to do so – the EU’s foreign policy portfolio are first, the successful economic integration in the first forty years of the European Union’s existence; second, the logic of integration through institutionalization driving EU integration since 1952; third, the – at first – informal European Political Cooperation witnessing the emergence of tacit norms and rules of conducting foreign policy coordination; and fourth, the rhetoric commitment to the region of Central and Eastern Europe pre-1989.

In the article is studied the relationship of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia with European Union, the current situation of these states within Eastern Partnership and European Neighborhood Policy. Authors, also, underline the necessity of consolidation of both, bilateral and multilateral cooperation among partner states, as well as the improvement of existing individual and common working mechanisms on the advancement of European integration process of countries. In this context, is underlined the importance of newly signed memorandum of understanding on establishing cooperation on European integration by the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. This memorandum reflects the necessity for the three states to have a more ambitious approach of European integration as well as a necessity of a rethinking of Eastern Partnership framework in general.

This paper looked into how the Chinese presence in the EaP area is affecting the strategic calculus of the EU and the EaP countries. The eastern neighborhood is at the crossroads of a possible new configuration, where the EaP countries have found themselves increasingly at the intersection of the interests of competing great powers that have changed the international environment. The ongoing conflict between an increasingly assertive and aggressive Russia and the West and increasing interests and financial investment from China as it implements its Belt and Road Initiative have put pressures on the EaP states. This raises the question regarding the possibility of cooperation between Russia and China in the region and how feasible that is. On the other hand, the EU is facing its own challenges regarding its relationship with the Chinese state in an increasingly adverse international environment. While the EU needs a functioning security system on its eastern border while maintaining functioning relations with competing powers, China's geopolitical status is rapidly changing. This is becoming particularly relevant today because Covid-19 has accelerated the US-China strategic rivalry and the prospect of new sanctions hangs over China. Beijing's growing influence in Eurasia has the potential to create new geo-economic divides, requiring the EU to reassess its focus on the EaP area.

This article comparatively analyzes the manifestations and various factors of political populism in the European post-transitional periphery. The main difficulty in mapping political populism in the European post-transitional periphery and defining populist parties most accurately is that, unlike most political forces in developed democracies, such parties do not belong to traditional parties. Moreover, their ideology combines the positions of both right and left parties, which makes it extremely difficult to place them on the classical right-left scale of the party spectrum. The political agenda of the populist parties of the European post-transition peripheral countries has a different content, but it usually comes down to updating issues that are hushed up by the political establishment: protecting national and cultural identity, taking tough measures aimed at combating corruption and crime, protecting traditional family values, and even harsh criticism of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the EU and their institutions. A distinctive feature of the populist forces was also that in their majority they called for the protection of the rights and interests of ordinary people and the wider use of the instruments of direct democracy, and thus directly opposed one of the fundamental principles of liberal democracy, taking into account the opinion of the minority. The article analyzes the emergence of a populist environment, where the responsibility, trust and dignity of politicians are distorted, which in turn leads to a crisis of understanding and civiliarchic culture. The influence of populist parties has grown and most European post-transitional peripheral countries have at least one successful populist party, and populists are among the most influential parties. It is noteworthy that civil society organizations have identified the activities of populist leaders and their parties as the main threat facing the Eastern Partnership countries. Using populist technologies, mainly in the context of an election campaign, leaders and their political groups seek to manipulate public opinion and change the alignment of political parties in the European post-transitional periphery.

The Eastern Partnership as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy aims to include states' economic, cultural, and political cooperation. Over a decade, the ambitious objectives of the European Union's Eastern Partnership policies have brought sizeable benefits. Still, the program is not one of the EU's strategic successes, as its founding fathers claim. This research analyses each state of the Eastern Partnership to determine the evolution of their relations with the European Union. As the presence of idiosyncrasies demonstrates the need for a psychological approach to foreign policy decision-making, through a practical analysis, we have sought to identify discursive patterns that would mark the presence of certain types of idiosyncrasies and investigate their association with the undertaken decisions. At the same time, the findings provide empirical arguments regarding the importance of idiosyncrasies in decision-making and political outcomes between six countries from the Eastern Partnership and EU. It is by no means an exhaustive analysis but rather an attempt to outline some of the key issues which have been on the agenda of the EaP over the past decade.

The article explores the practice perspectives of European and Euro-Atlantic integration for the West’s Eastern neighbours with a focus on Ukraine in the main directions of cooperation: political, economic, security, and communication. It has been established that Eastern Partners show a dissimilar political interest in rapprochement with the EU and NATO due to the existence of different foreign policy goals. The EU’s Association Agreements with Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova are primarily aimed at defending the European integration, so the states are interested in developing close trade relations, and in achieving open and sustainable economic growth. The results have shown that Ukraine’s deepening Euro-Atlantic ties are a continuation of the European course of the state’s development, since the interaction with the EU and NATO aims to expand transatlantic relations and create updated security formats. The article also analyses the mechanisms of improving the efficiency of the communication between the EU, NATO and Ukraine by informing the public about the progress of Ukraine’s integration into relevant structures, the reforms of the economic and security sectors of Ukraine, and its participation in the Alliance’s non-military initiatives. The findings suggest that the improvement of public communication tools increases the involvement of governments in implementing integration policy goals and identifying issues that need a further response. Additionally, the Ukrainian government should strategically focus on ensuring and implementing practical measures aimed at shaping the image of Ukraine as an intent partner that adheres to its political commitments.

The South Caucasus region has a strategic geopolitical significance due to its importance for energy transports to Europe, but the conflicts, the pandemic and the instability affect people’s safety. Moreover, these conflicts are an obstacle to the economic and social development of these countries, and the bilateral and multilateral relations with the West are affected due to influence that Russia has in these countries. In 2020, Azerbaijan seeks new ways for developing economic and commercial linkages with the West and identifies new opportunities for investment, as well as extend cooperation at international level. For Armenia, one of the main goals for 2020 was to identify the best solution for the Nagorny-Karabakh resolution conflict, but things have changed rapidly at the end of September 2020 when the latest Nagorny-Karabakh conflict broke out. Georgia had a lot of protests and social unrest starting with 2019; changing the electoral system was one of the most important requirements for the citizens and after a long period, the Government decide to change the law of electoral system in June 2020. All of these events from South Caucasus and the pandemic also have an important impact on the countries development in the process of establishing new relations with different actors and improving their linkages with the European Union.

Educational practices are instrumental in the transfer of European values beyond EU borders. Our aim is to problematize Europeanisation through education in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries by studying the promotion of EU studies in higher education projects funded by the Erasmus + programme. The paper discusses the educational dimension of Europeanisation in EaP countries from three interrelated perspectives - social constructivism, the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and a post-structuralist reading of centrality and marginality. We specifically focus on a series of international projects developed by the University of Tartu (Estonia) in partnership with other EU-based and non-EU universities from the EaP. We used qualitative data from reports of 4 EU-funded cooperation projects and also students' views obtained in 2 focus groups that explored how the EU is taught and discussed. In the end, the added value of the article is that it offers a critical view on teaching the EU in the Eastern neighborhood, focusing on nuanced local perspectives on the challenges of Europeanisation through education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with the years of Eastward expansion and intensifying threats issued by Russia, the EU's foreign policy has prioritized the creation of a stable and secure territory in its Eastern neighbourhood. Western countries have tried to solidify this union by means of developing a varied palette of regional cooperation instruments, such as: The European Neighbourhood Policy, The Eastern Partnership/EaP, Free Trade and Association Accords. This article brings to the forefront the issue of the current effectiveness of European policies, especially the Eastern Partnership, considering that the war in Ukraine generated major regional changes and different positions of the EaP member states towards the EU. And here I refer to the suspension of Belarus as a EaP member, Armenia and Azerbaijan, states used by Russia to evade international sanctions. Also, the EU's acceptance of the EU accession applications of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine forces a change in the objectives of the EaP. In this context, starting from the assumption that the EaP, in the current regional context, is no longer a realistic project in its current form, the question remains: is it realistic and sustainable solution for the EU to continue developing new projects for EaP states or is it more efficient for the EU to redirect its attention to rethinking already existing projects, namely the allocation of EaP resources exclusively for the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, with the aim of supporting and accelerating the EU accession process?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Black Sea region is an important geopolitical and geostrategic area where the interests of various authors of world politics — both regional and global — intersect. The importance of the region as a transit area of energy resources and an important transport hub attracts the attention of the European Union as well. The EU’s interests in the Black Sea region cover a number of areas: economy, energy transit, security, environmental and climate issues, social and cultural initiatives. Energy and transport flows through the Black Sea region, as well as access to broad markets, are key factors in the EU’s interest in the region. Since the 1990s, the European Union has consistently increased its interest in the Black Sea region. Among the key initiatives in this direction, it is necessary to highlight the “Black Sea Synergy” and the “Eastern Partnership” program, which allow the EU to progressively increase its presence in the region and influence individual countries geographically related to it. The EU’s attention to the region and its policies are in conflict with the foreign policy interests of the Russian Federation in this geographical area.

Having declared independence in 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine gained strategic importance in terms of its geographical location. It is regarded a "buffer zone" for both the European Union (EU) and Russia. There is a division within the country into the pro-Western and pro-Russian options. Ukraine's aspiration for the UE membership has faced Russia's objection since time immemorial. In the past, Ukraine preferred to pursue a balance policy between Russia and the EU. Ukraine's attempt to approach the West with the Orange Revolution, its inclusion in the European Neighbourhood Policy, its participation in the Eastern Partnership program were perceived as a threat by Russia. The Ukrainian crisis, in particular, brought these two countries face to face. This crisis also deeply affected both the EU's energy policy and its relations with Russia. After all the developments that followed, the issue of Ukraine's membership in the EU remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an in-depth analysis of the results of the Republic of Moldova within the Eastern Partnership in the light of the “Eastern Partnership Index” study. For ten years, the Republic of Moldova has had different results in the Eastern Partnership, being considered even the “success story” in a certain period of time, and then giving way to Ukraine and Georgia in certain areas of development.

This study aims at a synthesis of European policies, programs, mechanisms and instruments directed at developing a special good neighbourly relationship at the borders of the European Union. Methodologically, we aim to identify the main reforming guidelines concerning primarily the neighbourhood policies and instruments in the post-2020 period. The new multiannual financial framework is thus taken into account. In order to capture the main changes to these policies and instruments, we purpose to diachronically capture their evolution from the launch of the European Neighbourhood Policy until the beginning of 2020. The reform of the European Neighbourhood Policy has been a complex process imposed by the internal realities of the EU, but, naturally, it was marked both by the position of the partners or by the global geopolitical and macroeconomic context. During the period since the launch of the ENP (2004) the context has changed. Some neighbours have since become members of the EU. Then, in 2008 and 2009, the two partnerships aimed at the southern dimension (Union for the Mediterranean) and the eastern dimension (Eastern Partnership) are launched. The instruments are updated, reformed and resized through a constantly increasing allocation for each multiannual financial framework. Moreover, these instruments with which the EU operates in relation to its partners have been diversified to respond to the context, but also to stimulate both the partner state and the society, the population as a whole. The European policy implementation framework has been shaped by the internal and external context. The multilateral dimension of cooperation has increasingly been replaced by the bilateral dimension. The more for more principle applied in this context was intended as a stimulus for partners. This incentive must be understood not only in the sense that a state that reforms more, that integrates more, gets more support, including financially. The process is more complex and includes, as has become increasingly evident after 2015, a sectoral dimension of integration and differentiation. Thus, within the same state, some sectors have received additional support to the detriment of others. The differentiation was made starting from the same principle (more for more).