Commentary
EAP 2030
Think Tank
Western Balkans Futures
Where to Next, Western Balkans?
18 May 2022
14 July 2020
Only when the EU increases efforts to strengthen civil society, which is the basis of this integration, can the Eastern Partnership fulfil its potential in the next decade. It should not sacrifice the six countries for the sake of normalising relations with Russia.
In Brussels in May last year, the leaders of the six Eastern Partnership countries celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Eastern Partnership program.
Launched in 2009 as an opportunity to increase economic and political integration in the European Union’s eastern flank and create a safer and more predictable neighbourhood, the initiative has been seen by Russia as an attempt to take the EU’s post-Soviet countries out of Moscow’s control.
After these ten years, the Eastern Partnership countries, i.e., Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, continue to differ in economic, political and demographic indicators, as well as in their approaches to Russia. A number of countries, however, have signed an Association Agreement with the EU, but there are also new conflicts in the region.