Adapting to European Integration? Kaliningrad, Russia and the European Union – Edited by S. Gänzle, G. Müntel and E. Vinokurov

Abstract

Adapting to European Integration? Kaliningrad, Russia and the European Union , edited by S. Gänzle, G. Müntel and E. Vinokurov ( Manchester : Manchester University Press , 2008 , ISBN 9780719079016 ); xviii + 276pp. , £60.00 hb . The Kaliningrad region is an unknown place for the majority of EU citizens, though this Russian exclave is located almost in the geographical heart of the EU. Even if Kaliningrad is an unknown region, it can hardly be called ‘a double peripher’, since this region has received more attention from the Kremlin and the European Commission than any other Russian region since the disintegration of the USSR, excluding Chechnya. Despite the fact that the administrations both in Russia and the EU are fully aware of the recent developments and the challenges faced by the Kaliningrad region, the wider public might have difficulty in placing the Kaliningrad region in the correct place in a map of Europe. This multi-perspective book on Kaliningrad helps in this task and several others. The book is a result of many years' collaboration between the academics in the Kaliningrad region and leading western researchers. Altogether more than 20 experts have dealt with strategic issues essential for the future development of the Kaliningrad region, including security, the environment, public health policy, education, border management, economy and many other essential themes. Logistics and energy supply-related issues should have received more attention in the book due to the special geographical location of the Kaliningrad region. The following quotation answers the main questions of the book: ‘Despite intensive co-operation, Kaliningrad's Europeanization proceeds only within very narrow margins – the impact of “Europe” on the governance of this Russian enclave inside Europe is surprisingly modest. Clearly, this overall conclusion has to be examined very carefully, taking into account the results of the policy areas studied in this book: some modest EU impact on Kaliningrad was observed in the fields of economic and education policy. In turn, in the fields of environmental policy, social policy, and border management, only a low degree of change and adaptation took place; and there was none to be observed in the area of public health policy’ (p. 250). If the aforementioned conclusion is correct, one faces a very pragmatic question: what should be done differently both in Russia and in the EU in order to prevent the Kaliningrad region becoming an isolated problem zone ‘within the EU’? Can the Kaliningrad region truly become ‘a pilot zone’, aiding currently weak relations between Russia and the EU, or will the region merely act as a thermometer of EU–Russia relations? Although edited publications seldom form a united entity, this book is a rare exception, and hence it would be a perfect resource for students and researchers specializing in regional co-operation in the Baltic Sea region and EU–Russia relations in general.