EaP Countries Research Articles

The european green deal: shaping the future of the eastern partnership

The article has focused on the European Green Deal [EGD], its goals, key tasks and components. Particular attention has been paid to the specifics of the implementation of the EGD in the partner countries of the Eastern Partnership [EaP]. The author’s approach to singling out clusters of the EaP countries on the integration of their green policies, taking into account the level of convergence of the EaP countries environmental and climate policies and the peculiarities of the implementation of the EGD, has been presented. The potential of the countries of the region in terms of readiness to switch to green energy has been identified on the basis of the Energy Transition Index and the dynamics of the EaP Environmental and Climate Policy Sub-Index. The degree of correlation between the general degree of convergence of the EaP countries to the European Union and the degree of convergence of the EaP countries environmental and climate policies to the EGD has been determined. The ways of transformation of the strategy of formation and implementation of the EGD for the Eastern Partnership countries, taking into account the current challenges, have been outlined. Thorough conclusions and recommendations for the EaP countries in the context of EGD implementation have been presented.

Gender Equality and Economic Growth in BSR and EAP Countries: A Quantitative Approach

Gender Equality and Economic Growth in BSR and EAP Countries: A Quantitative Approach

Europeanization Through Education: Promoting European Studies In Eastern Partnership Countries

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.

New Approach towards the EU Studies in Georgia

The issue of the EU Studies development in Georgia is highly actual and important considering the fact that during the last 30 years’ path of European integration, the people of Georgia have not lost their faith and hope honorably to find a place in the EU family. The start of the association process in 2014 based on the AA/DCFTA (within the association trio) and the emergence of a European Perspective for Georgia in 2022, required a qualitatively new understanding of the content and methods of EU studies. The article presents one of the innovative attempts and approaches toward EU studies at the Gori State University, which was developed within the framework of the Jean Monnet Module "European Union Explored in Association Agreement". Sharing and disseminating the experience of a new style of EU studies could be useful for EaP countries and others oriented on European development.

Сonsumer Rights, Competition and Intellectual Property Protection Regimes in the EaP Countries at the Cross Roads: EU Requirements and Reality

Unlike the protection of the intellectual property or competition, the cooperation of the EU with the EaP countries in consumer protection matters belongs to the topics which are not prioritized by the bilateral and multilateral cooperation agenda and fora. Rooted in different contractual framework, the cooperation in consumer protection matters, in the cases of the competition and intellectual property rights protection, is linked mainly to the approximation of legislation and regulatory practices used by the EaP countries to fulfil their obligations. This article aims to compare the EaP countries practices dealing with the consumer protection, competition protection and intellectual property protection regimes in order to identify the potential impact the properly ensured competition and effectively enforced intellectual property rights can cause on the level of the consumer protection as an effect of the proper and due approximation of the relevant legislation to the EU standards.

Customer Engagement with Universities’ Social Media after COVID-19: EaP Countries Case

The current research aims at analyzing the social media activity of the universities in EaP countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities had to transfer their education processes and enrollment campaigns online. University management had to introduce new tools for communication and interaction to ensure the efficacy of cooperation between the university community, students, teaching staff, and other stakeholders. In this research, the authors analyze which factors affected the dynamics and directions of customer engagement with Universities' social media and how. The authors propose a framework to reveal the role of countries’ digital environment, educational environment, and university’s SM activity in increasing ER of university stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic on Facebook and Instagram. The authors outline managerial proposals for universities, including analytics-based SM content creation and planning, communicating socially essential issues.

International Negotiations and Domestic Change in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood: Deconstructing Antidiscrimination Reforms in Moldova

Democratic reforms, or lack thereof, in countries addressed by the European Union’s (EU’s) Eastern Partnership initiative (EaP) have attracted considerable scholarly attention. Yet many studies approach these countries’ political and policy developments through the lens of external actors’ (especially the EU and Russia’s) engagements. While accounting for international influences, this article lends agency to the domestic actors by scrutinizing the antidiscrimination reform process in Moldova, one of the EaP countries with closer relations to the EU, against the background of their negotiations. In doing so, the article explains the outcome of the reform and makes a case for applying Robert Putnam’s (1988) Two-Level-Game approach to an analysis of a controversial reform process surrounded by international and domestic pressures in a nonconsolidated democracy. In addition to its empirical contribution, the article seeks to advance the applicability boundaries of the Two-Level-Game theory beyond classical Foreign Policy Analysis in a democratic context and enhance the scholarly debate on the external–domestic interplay in policy change and norm adoption.

Joint Study Programmes in the Educational Policy and Law of Eastern Partnership Countries

This paper aims at analysing the policy and legal framework of joint study programmes in Eastern Partnership countries (EaP countries) in frames of the standards of the European Higher Education Area and providing the recommendations on its enhancement. It is concluded that the internationalization of higher education has been considered as one of the key priorities of the educational policy in EaP countries, however, more emphasis on the role of the joint study programmes is needed. The level of specification of legislative requirements on joint study programmes in EaP countries differs. The educational laws in Georgia, Moldova include special provisions devoted to joint study programmes, in Ukraine – basic framework, including the possibility to establish joint study programmes and awarding the joint degrees, while respective legislation in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus – just general provisions regarding the international cooperation of higher educational institutions. It is suggested to implement the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes in national laws and regulations in EaP countries, first of all, in part of the definition of joint study programmes and the recognition of the accreditation decisions of foreign quality assurance agencies.

Challenges for the Visegrad Group – The Coronavirus Crises and its Impact on Tourism

Abstract This paper aims to analyze the regional cooperation which ensures stability and good relations to neighbours and other V4 countries and helps to enforce collaborations across Europe in many fields such as education, tourism and economic development. Another field of activity of the Visegrad Group is a joint positioning in international tourism which will be addressed in this article on the background of the current coronavirus crisis. The empirical part consists of a SWOT analysis for Visegrad group challenges and a PASTA Analysis with which the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the tourism industry in the V4 countries are researched. Lastly, recommendations for possible further actions in times of the coronavirus will be given, and potential future collaborations with the WB6 and EaP countries, also with regard to tourism, will be dealt with briefly. This article summarizes aspects related to tourism market, transport, cultural offer, economy, industry, and environment. The particular focus is also paid to political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia and how the current coronavirus and the resulting measures against the spread of it affects the tourism industry in the Visegrad Group countries.

Institutions, microeconomic factors and stock market capitalization: Evidence from the EAP countries

Institutions, microeconomic factors and stock market capitalization: Evidence from the EAP countries

The Unintended Consequences of a European Neighbourhood Policy without Russia

ABSTRACTAfter Russia’s retreat from the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU’s policy towards its eastern neighbours was split up. The internal unintended consequence of the EU’s choice to leave its policy unaltered was a tension between the objective of privileged relations with ENP countries and a promise to recognise the interests of Russia as an equal partner. Externally, the unintended outcome was that this fostered two opposing strategic environments: a cooperative one for the EaP and a competitive one with Russia. In terms of the management of unintended consequences, the EU has actively sought to reinforce its normative hegemony towards EaP countries, while at the same time mitigating certain negative unintended effects.

Десять років східному партнерству: час для перегляду.

This paper analyses effectiveness and prospects of the Eastern Partnership in the context of its ten-year implementation and the results of the Brussels Summit in 2017. The article identified main problems that impede the use of its full potential for a deeper transformation of the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. These are: 1) internal challenges for the sustainable transformation of EaP countries; 2) Russia’s influence counterbalancing the EU’s Europeanisation influence in the region; 3) the weakness of the EU’s incentives to support domestic reforms in the partner countries. The basis of most of the problems that is hampering the reforms effectiveness is systemic corruption, selfish interests of the elites and ineffective state institutions of the partner countries. Many problems of the EaP partner states stem from the reluctance of the Russian Federation to respect their sovereignty and the attempt to preserve its “sphere of influence” in the post-Soviet space. However, the model of “integration without membership”, proposed by the EU within the EaP, does not have tools to stimulate truly deep reforms.The authors also formulated conclusions on the need for rethinking the Eastern Partnership. Firstly, the EU must recognise the political realities in the partner countries and, accordingly, adapt its expectations of reforms and policies towards governments and non-governmental forces. Secondly, a renewed approach to relations with partner countries should take into account their sensitivity to external pressure, namely “the pain points” that let them open to Russia’s influence, and to propose ways that would allow it to be minimised in the sense of building EU “soft power” and counteraction to the Kremlin’s “hard power”. Thirdly, the EU should think of what intermediate incentives it can offer its pro-European neighbours (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) in order to gradually make way for recognition of the status of potential candidates for membership if the internal transformations become irreversible.

Eastern Partnership Integration with the EU and Inclusive Growth of National Economies

The paper aims at analyzing the circumstances and objectives of the regional integration in the context of global development. The EU is one of the most influential and important actors of the global world, which represents one of the most developed examples of the regional integration. During the development, the EU went through the several stages on enlargement. Even nowadays, without having targeted to the reactive new member in foreseen future, the EU continues the process of integration of adjacent regions by setting goals and priorities through different forms such as the European Neighborhood, the Eastern Partnership, Association Agreements, various types of Trade agreements. The Eastern Partnership which represents the EU’s eastern neighborhood consisting by former soviet republics has steadily gone up with integration: 1. Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have already signed the Association Agreement (AA) including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) with the EU and now these countries work on further progress in terms of the Implementation of AA/DCFTA; 2. Armenia and Azerbaijan are seeking new framework to up-grade their relationship with the EU, Belarus created EU Belarus Co-ordination Group and acts within the Single Support Framework program for 2017-2020. The evolution of EaP countries’ trade data evidently show the changes and growing dynamics in the region. The obvious increasing tendency of trade volumes predicts for further success in the future after the DC FTAs are enacted fully for some countries and/or other trade facilitation measures are utilized fully for others. A new approach to the economic growth also suggests that benefit from economic growth supports poverty reduction, widely spreads across sectors and affects the majority of the labor force and hence, rise the welfare of the population. In this context, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) appears to be a useful tool to achieve this overwhelming goal. In the difficult business climate prevailing in most of the EaP countries, the role of the EU support could include raising awareness on CSR and supporting the implementation of relevant standards in the enterprises that are benefiting from the EU assistance .

E-government development strategies in the eastern partnership countries

The article aims to outline the role of e-democracy within the setting of the Eastern Partnership program. The article provides the comparative review of E-Government progress in six EaP countries in 2009 – 2016. The E-Government sensitive data of international ratings is analyzed with the special focus on participative aspects. The existing differences of E-Government strategies between the Eastern Partnerships countries are analyzed with the special focus on e-participate. The e-participate differences in the development of the countries are pointed out in terms of e-democracy development. The cognitive model of integrating e-democracy components into the socio-technical system of e-government is proposed. Article DOI : 10.5958/2347-6869.2017.00007.3

Exogenous vs Endogenous Growth in the EU’s EaP and Central Asian Countries

Abstract The main purpose of this paper is to determine and analyse the factors that affected economic growth in the EU’s Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries in the 2000-2015 period. Economic growth is one of the main targets of economic policy of any country and influenced by various determinants. Of particular interest is the endogenous and exogenous nature of these factors. Having classified these factors into exogenous and endogenous ones, we examined and determined the significance and robustness of various factors influencing the economic growth in these countries, like investment, human capital, research and development, economic policies and macroeconomic conditions, openness to trade, geography, political factors and others. Correlation and factor analysis showed significance and strong association of GDP per capita with physical, human capital, and R&D in EaP countries and with natural resources and active population share in Central Asian countries.

DILEMMAS OF POST-ENLARGEMENT EUROPE: BUILDING AN ‘INSECURITY COMMUNITY’?

This article reflects on the development and operation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) from the perspective of the post-1989 attempt to extend the West European ‘Security Community’ into the wider Europe via processes of both EU enlargement and attempts to foster deep integration with former Soviet states. Whilst the EU’s strategy towards eastern neighbours should certainly not be taken as the sole or even key cause of the ‘insecurity zone’ in and around the EU’s eastern frontier, it seems hard to avoid the conclusion that actions such as the ENP and EaP have played an important part in these developments. This is an analytical contribution rather than a study based on primary research. As well as extending existing discussions about the expansion of the European Security Community and the application of the ‘Optimum Integration Area’ concept to the EaP countries, the article includes a focus on EU states’ economic relations with Russia which is a critical albeit underexplored constraint upon EU ‘eastern’ policy.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.10.14579

Labour migration to the UK from Eastern partnership countries

Stocks and flows of migrant workers from EaP countries in the UK are relatively small, and flows have declined recently following changes to UK immigration policy and the onset of recession. The demographic profile of migrants from EaP countries is similar to that of EUA8 migrants but employment rates have been much lower. A large proportion of migrants to the UK from EaP countries are highly educated but this has not led to such high levels of occupational attainment as groups such as EU14 migrants. Despite the potential for increased migration to fill skill gaps, immigration policies and attitudes to immigrants are likely to restrict future flows.JEL ClassificationsJ61; F22.

Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries - Country Report: Belarus

Labour migration does not appear to have the same magnitude and socio-economic importance in Belarus as in other EaP countries. It is one of the few post-socialist economies that have preserved the dominance of the state sector and built complicated systems of subsidisation and economic support for the population designed to manage the political-business cycle (see Chubrik, Shymanovich, Zaretsky (2012)). This model has allowed the economy to grow quite steadily until recently. However, the distorted system of incentives that was created for enterprises and households has resulted in the need for a correction, which happened in the form of a balance of payments crisis in 2011. The impact of this factor on migration has not been fully visible yet. At the same time the relatively long period of stability and gradual, but steady, increase in welfare payments has played a role as a migration-restraining factor. In order to estimate cost and benefits of labour migration between EU and Belarus, this study utilises publically available literature as background and relies where possible on micro-data: Census-2009, Household Budget Survey (HBS), as well as relevant official data and data from polls related to the topic. Additionally, some sections of this report rely on information collected in the course of a focus group meeting with labour migrants and a series of in-depth interviews with officials from state, international, and non-governmental agencies dealing with migration. Lastly, in some cases anecdotal evidence was collected to support some of the new trends that have not yet been recorded in the statistics.