EU Eastern Partnership Research Articles

Subregional Projects in the Context of the Development of the EU Eastern Partnership

The author analyzes subregional projects that could add dynamics to the process of European integration in the situation of substantial conceptual and institutional crisis of the European Union what directly affects the efficience of implementation of the EU projects (Eastern Partnership). Here the aurhor means reload and activation of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM and conceptualization the Baltic-Black See Union as isntitutional instruments of sub-regional stability in the context of deep crisis of Euroipean security. The consequences of sub-regional instutitutionalization for the EU and its prograns will be complex and multi-dimention. Firstly, there will be the rise of stability and security on the EU eastern flank as a compensation for its non-sufficient security elements as well as NATO low readiness for Russian threat. As soon as activation of Russian neo-imperial revisionism seriously undermines the EU Eastern Partnership Program and hampers the integration of the post-soviet states into the European and Euro-Atlantic in stitutions, establishment of both above-mentioned institutions will give a serious integration impuls for the European civilization and acceleration of the appearance of new wave of the EU members. The other result of institution building will be development of transport and logistic infastructure in the context of the implementationa bilateral EU-China trans continental projects resulting the growth of the EU poterntial as a leading global economic and political player. It is proved that ODED-GUAM and the Baltic-Black Sea Union could become substantial factors of the support of the European Union in whole and its Eastern Partnership Program particularly in case substantial work is being made by the interested states. But the main precondition of the activation pf sub-regional projects is political will and startegic interests of western elites.
 Keywords: European Union, EU Eastern Partnership, Organization for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM, Baltic-Black Sea Union, subregional integration.

Comparative Analysis of the Availability of Digitalization Indicators in Ukraine and Other EU Eastern Partnership Countries

The article contains the results of a study on monitoring the digital economy and society in the Eastern Partnership countries. A brief assessment of the state of affairs in these countries in terms of the availability of data, which are needed to calculate the main indicators of digitalization and, first of all, the DESI index on the basis of the OECD guidelines and recommendations is presented. The assessment was carried out by comparing the information obtained with similar data, approaches and practices of the European Union. It was based on utilization of the "reference " level of the EU countries for closer alignment with the latter.
 Based on the results of the analysis of the state of affairs with statistics, which reflects the processes of digitalization in Ukraine and other Eastern partnership countries, some recommendations on improving the organization of information collection in order to increase the quality of statistical data management are made. This also opens the way for a closer coordination with the European approach to monitoring indicators of digitalization, including calculations of DESI index.
 In Ukraine, work is underway to improve statistical tools for measuring and monitoring digitalization processes. This work is based on the approaches, which are used in the EU countries. In the group of Eastern partnership countries, Ukraine is not among the leaders. It is lagging behind some other countries, first of all - Belarus. At the same time, it should be noted that there are some problems with the use of the Eurostat tools for digitalization measurement.
 In general, the main problems, which have been mentioned by representatives of statistical bodies in the process of collection, analysis, reporting, are the lack of an appropriate statistical unit, lack of funds for the organization of research, lack of qualified personnel, as well as the lack of appropriate tools for data collection (questionnaires, methodological materials for sampling, etc.). The low level of interest on the part of government bodies exacerbates these problems.
 The list of DESI indicators must be approved by the government. It should be developed by the State statistical service of Ukraine in cooperation with other ministries and state agencies. Only after that, the State statistical service of Ukraine will be able to change its statistical questionnaires (forms) and conduct the necessary specialized surveys.
 EU assistance may include several activities that the State statistical service of Ukraine has identified as its needs: data collection tools, staff training, data analysis, etc. Such assistance may be provided within the framework of existing cooperation agreements between the State statistical service of Ukraine and specialized statistical agencies of the EU.

The Role of the FRG in Implementing the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EU Eastern Partnership Program Towards Ukraine (2004-2019)

The Role of the FRG in Implementing the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EU Eastern Partnership Program Towards Ukraine (2004-2019)

From principle to practice? The resilience–local ownership nexus in the EU Eastern Partnership policy

ABSTRACTBy emphasizing concepts such as resilience and local ownership, recent updates in the EU's foreign policy strategy have marked a narrative turn and signaled a shift in EU external governance toward its neighborhood. This article has two aims. First, we unpack the EU's conceptual understanding of resilience and local ownership as reflected in its recent strategic documents. Second, we examine the implications of the EU's narrative turn on actual policy practices in Eastern Partnership countries. We highlight a gap between the EU's broad understanding of resilience and local ownership and the narrow operationalization of these concepts in the EU's eastern policy. The article shows that the EU continued relying on the previously established policy frameworks, according to which resilience develops through approximation with EU templates. This strong path dependence precluded any effective policy turn toward local ownership.

Stosunki białorusko-ukraińskie w kontekście Partnerstwa Wschodniego. Impas czy intensyfikacja współpracy?

The article contains an analysis of the current aspects related to the Belarus and Ukraine cooperation under the EU Eastern Partnership. The timeframe covers a period of 2009–2012, starting from the 2009 Summit in Prague. It is also important to mention some earlier aspects having a great impact on the discussed issues in the legal, political, and economic context.

Sveriges relationer med Ryssland: kontinuitet och förändring historiskt och idag

Relations between Sweden and Russia have historically been characterized by continuity and stability, despite occasional periods of friction. On the one hand, Sweden and Russia have a more active bilateral agenda than what is usually recognized, primarily in the areas of trade, investments and cultural and educational exchanges. On the other hand, there are several issues – like the Ukraine conflict, the EU Eastern Partnership, Swedish NATO cooperation and the security situation in the Baltic Sea area – involving competing claims and interests between Sweden and Russia. Further, Swedish foreign policy since the 1990s has been framed within a multilateral context, and that has a bearing on Swedish–Russian relations as well. This situation is likely to continue, unless dramatic changes occur in the political relations between Russia and the Western powers.

Armenia and Belarus: caught between the EU's and Russia's conditionalities?

ABSTRACTThis article looks into Armenia's and Belarus’ engagement with the European Union's (EU) and Russia's conditionalities, the two EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries that are also members of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). While paying attention to political, economic (including energy and technical) as well as security dimensions of the EU's and Russia's approaches, as proposed in the present special section, the article demonstrates that the conditionalities extended by the EU and Russia to the two countries in question have differed. In their turn, Armenia and Belarus have reacted differently to Russia's and the EU's conditionalities. Against the backdrop of the changing significance ascribed to both the EU's and Russia's policies towards their common neighbourhood since the 1990s, the present contribution identifies and analyses factors that account for the diverging positions of Armenia and Belarus, including the type of regime, the geopolitical considerations, the stakes in the economic and energy spheres and the predisposition to integration. The article shows that in the resulting complex context, Armenia and Belarus have been able to influence the shape and content of the EU's and Russia's conditionalities, although in a different way and to a different extent.

Constructing bridges and fostering growth: Interdisciplinary insights into European Union conceptions and perceptions

This article studies the EU’s role conceptions and projections towards its Eastern Neighbourhood, and Ukraine specifically. Informed by the novel focus on narratives and emotions in International Relations (IR) theory and in EU foreign policy studies, we propose an innovative interdisciplinary synergy between IR’s role theory [Harnisch et al. 2011; Holsti, 1970] and cognitive linguistics’ conceptual metaphor theory [Lakoff and Johnson 1980]. Using the tool of conceptual metaphor, we systemically explore the EU’s role conception (self-image) as well as its perception and expectations of the Eastern partners (role prescriptions). In doing so, we put forward a new method to systemically analyse cognitive and emotive elements in the EU’s foreign policy roles based on the notion that conceptual metaphors reveal fundamental cognitive and emotional traits central to the roles actors play. Empirically, we analyse the EU Global Strategy (June 2016) and the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit’s Official Memorandum (November 2017), as well as 12 interviews with EU practitioners dealing with Ukraine (conducted in 2017).

The economic impact of east\u2013west migration on the European Union

This study contributes to the literature on destination-country consequences of international migration, with investigations on the effects of immigration from new EU member states and Eastern Partnership countries on the economies of old EU member states during the years 1995–2010. Using a rich international migration dataset and an empirical model accounting for the endogeneity of migration flows, we find positive and significant effects of post-enlargement migration flows from new EU member states on old member states’ GDP, GDP per capita, and employment rate, and a negative effect on output per worker. We also find small, but statistically significant negative effects of migration from Eastern Partnership countries on receiving countries’ GDP, GDP per capita, employment rate, and capital stock, but a positive significant effect on capital-to-labor ratio. These results mark an economic success of the EU’s eastern enlargements and free movement of workers in an enlarged EU.

Conflicting Narratives? Geopolitical and Normative Power Narratives in the EU Eastern Partnership

Since its inception, the EU’s Eastern Partnership has given rise to two seemingly conflicting narratives. The first one, the normative power narrative emphasizes the use of norms expansion as the main objectives of the European Union vis‑a‑vis its Eastern Partners. The second narrative, i.e. the geopolitical one, emphasizes the need for the EU to develop a geopolitical orientation in its relations with its Eastern neighbours based on interests rather than values. This paper will look at these two narratives, how they originated and how they developed in the EU discourses related to the making of EU foreign policy and more particularly as far as the EU’s Eastern Partnership is concerned.

Competitiveness of Ukraine in Aspect of the EU Integration and Eastern Partnership Convergence

Abstract Innovation is a concept that is more and more often used as a solution for increased competitiveness and economic development, either at organizational level or at a national one, but how is it created and what are the factors involved in the cycle education-innovation-economic and social development? This article intents to clarify the above mentioned cycle and provide an insight on what innovation means and what are its components, especially from a macroeconomic point of view. The results show how important innovation and other components like education are for the national and global economic development.

The Economic Impact of East‐West Migration on the European Union

This study contributes to the literature on destination‐country consequences of international migration with investigations on the effects of immigration from new EU member states and Eastern Partnership countries on the economies of old EU member states over the years 1995‐2010. Using a rich international migration dataset and an empirical model accounting for the endogeneity of migration flows we find positive and significant effects of post‐enlargement migration flows from new EU member states on old member states' GDP, GDP per capita, and employment rate and a negative effect on output per worker. We also find small, but statistically significant negative effects of migration from Eastern Partnership countries on receiving countries' GDP, GDP per capita, employment rate, and capital stock, but a positive significant effect on capital‐to‐labor ratio. These results mark an economic success of the EU enlargements and EU's free movement of workers.

Economic and Trade Relations of Estonia as a EU Member State, Incl. With Russia and Ukraine

This paper examines the economic relations of Estonia and trends in its exports and imports with the most important countries globally in 2008-2014, and presents its export and import transactions in the main commodity groups in 2009-2014.2 Considering the many different tensions that have appeared in world economy and in politics in the recent years, the aim of this paper is to describe their possible impacts on the Estonian economy. The research tasks set are studying of economic and trade relations with Ukraine as one of the largest countries in the EU Eastern Partnership Programme. Also the range of problems and developments related to signing the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, as well as the new complicated trade relations arising from economic policy, and developments both in the European context and that of other countries are examined. Also economic and trade relations with Russia are discussed. All this is treated on the background of the relations between Ukraine and Russia in the recent years and their impact on the behaviour of Estonia, the EU, USA and other Western countries. The above-mentioned issues are also viewed in relation to imposing economic sanctions due to relations between Ukraine and Russia.

The Foreign Policy of the Baltic States and the Ukrainian Crisis: A Case of Europeanization?

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have established themselves as ardent supporters of the EU's Eastern Partnership, and have also combined this with robust national policies. The crisis in Ukraine, with the annexation of Crimea and Russian military aggression precipitating confrontation in EU-Russia relations, presented the Baltic countries with the most formidable political challenge since restoring independence. Combining Europeanization literature with Larsen's (2005) approach to the foreign policy of small states, the article focuses on the relationship between national foreign policies of EU member states and the European Union as a foreign policy platform. The analysis synthesizes the results of a content analysis of official press releases with interviews with the Baltic states’ diplomats. The empirical results show that in responding to the Ukraine crisis, the Baltic states have regularly pursued their policy aims through the EU, contesting the conventional notion that Europeanization rarely extends to foreign and security affairs. More specifically, the Baltic states’ handling of the Ukraine crisis suggests that Europeanization can affect even dossiers with heavy bearing on member states’ security and national sovereignty where – according to the extant consensus in the literature – it should be least likely.

European Integration as one of the Main Foreign Policy and National Security Priorities of Georgia

The paper explores the basic socio-economic and political processes, which were going on in Georgia after the restoration of national independence in the beginning of the 90-th of the XX Century and which were related to the economic difficulties and conflicts in the two separatist regions of Georgia; also, the reasons, which determined the desire of Georgia, to develop cooperation with western democratic institutions – first of all with the European Union. The second part of the research is concentrated on the modern period, particularly, on the basic issues, related to the geopolitical importance of Georgia in the region, taking into consideration new geopolitical realities - main foreign policy and national security priorities of the country, reasons for the European Integration of Georgia, basic priorities of the EU Eastern Partnership Program and cooperation between EU and Georgia in different fields.

Russia's perceptions and misperceptions of the EU Eastern Partnership

This article is devoted to the problem of the reaction to the Eastern Partnership by Russia's both the political establishment and the expert community. The question of reactions to the Eastern Partnership in the target countries has been extensively posed in academic literature. However, the question of Russia's reaction to the Eastern Partnership, one of the most important actors of the region, has been rarely raised by the academic community. A wide array of factors impacted Russian elites' perception of the Eastern Partnership – from problematic issues in the EU-Russia relations to the post-Soviet states' political and economic transformation. Studying the dynamics and peculiarities of Russia's perspective on the Eastern Partnership makes it possible to draw meaningful conclusions on the nature of Russia's phobias that fuel its domestic and foreign policy.

EU Eastern Partnership and New Challenges for Europe

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Historical Regional Demographic Divergence in Latvia: Lessons of the Common Past with Eastern Partnership Countries

Abstract In recent decades, scientific literature on demographic research is increasing attention on spatial data analysis. It is considered a useful and reliable analysis methodology in evaluating complex regional development processes. However, due to its complexity and reliance on properly captured and quantified spatial relations, it remains a difficult topic for many scholars and practitioners. In Latvia, spatial demographic analysis may prove useful, providing opportunities for uncovering new dimensions of long-term regional demographic and economic development issues. Here, the author analyses spatial distribution aspects of key demographic indicators in Latvia’s municipalities, the associated socio-economic factors and their impact. The implications of the identified spatial processes and dependencies for regional development policy and aid are discussed, including possible lessons learned from or shared with the EU Eastern Partnership countries facing similar challenges.

The EU-Eastern Partnership Countries: Association Agreements and Transdisciplinarity in Studies, Training and Research

Abstract The European Union (EU) signed Association Agreements on 27 June 2014 with Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The Association Agreement (AA) is the EU’s main instrument to bring the countries in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) closer to EU standards and norms. For the citizens of the EaP countries to benefit from these agreements, a more in-depth knowledge of the EU and the EU Member States is required to be reflected in a comparative approach to European Union studies. We examine these implications on the need to expand and adapt, the content and approach to research and teaching European Union studies, with the transdisciplinary approach becoming increasingly dominant, becoming a modern tool for research in social sciences. This contribution aims to offer insight into the implementation of transdisciplinarity in the methodology of education and research as it is determined by current increasing global challenges. This approach should serve as a means of integrating a number of main goals as part of learning, teaching and research processes: strengthening employability of young people and preparing them for citizenship. We discuss the need for modernizing European studies in the EU Member States that could serve as an example for the EU Eastern Partnership countries. We conclude that the theoretical approach to European and related studies of other disciplines and their practical implications should always be transdisciplinary in nature and benefit from direct in-situ exposure and should be fully integrated in university curricula

Azerbaijan and the impact of the lack of democratisation on relations with the EU

In 2009 Azerbaijan joined the EU's Eastern Partnership (EaP) programme, officially confirming its devotion to the once-preferred strategic foreign-policy course–-that of integration with European and Euro-Atlantic structures. However, Azerbaijan's official interest in such integration has since waned, which is reflected in the country's near-last-place position in signing the EaP agreements. In 2014, of all the areas involved, Azerbaijan has so far only signed the visa facilitation and readmission agreements. On key interests only one appears to be mutual in practice–-that of energy security. Of all EaP countries, Azerbaijan appeared to be the most capable of resisting various Russian pressures by avoiding policies provoking its powerful northern neighbour, while at the same time balancing interests and playing a strategic role in the area of EU energy security. However, this political avoidance and balancing act has been reached at the expense of increasing deviation from its key strategic path and identity as laid down by the founders of the modern nation state of Azerbaijan, resulting in a change in the nature of relations with the EU.