In 2009 the EU launched the Eastern Partnership as the Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Russia also initiated an ambitious integration project (after several integrational attempts from the mid-nineties) with the final objective of creating the Eurasian Economic Union. These two initiatives seemed to be increasingly competing with each other to attract post-communist countries of the East prior to the Vilnius Summit in 2013. Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy at that time, said that the Vilnius summit would “open a new chapter” in the EU’s relations with its Eastern partners. She was right, but most probably she was anticipating a different kind of change. Independently of the causes behind the current difficulties in the Eastern Partnership region, the EU is facing a fundamental dilemma. If at this point it wants to make an impact and at the same time preserve its attractiveness for third countries, strategic decisions have to be taken.
The analysis is available at the web page of Österreichische Gesellschaft für Europapolitik:
http://www.oegfe.at/cms/uploads/media/OEGfE_Policy_Brief-2015.17_01.pdf
