THE “BREAKING” OF THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP STATES INTO TWO BLOCKS AS A MATTER OF PRIORITY FOR THE SECURITY OF NEIGHBOURING STATES
THE “BREAKING” OF THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP STATES INTO TWO BLOCKS AS A MATTER OF PRIORITY FOR THE SECURITY OF NEIGHBOURING STATES

Summary/Abstract: Beginning with the years of Eastward expansion and intensifying threats issued by Russia, the EU’s foreign policy has prioritized the creation of a stable and secure territory in its Eastern neighbourhood. Western countries have tried to solidify this union by means of developing a varied palette of regional cooperation instruments, such as: The European Neighbourhood Policy, The Eastern Partnership/EaP, Free Trade and Association Accords. This article brings to the forefront the issue of the current effectiveness of European policies, especially the Eastern Partnership, considering that the war in Ukraine generated major regional changes and different positions of the EaP member states towards the EU. And here I refer to the suspension of Belarus as a EaP member, Armenia and Azerbaijan, states used by Russia to evade international sanctions. Also, the EU's acceptance of the EU accession applications of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine forces a change in the objectives of the EaP. In this context, starting from the assumption that the EaP, in the current regional context, is no longer a realistic project in its current form, the question remains: is it realistic and sustainable solution for the EU to continue developing new projects for EaP states or is it more efficient for the EU to redirect its attention to rethinking already existing projects, namely the allocation of EaP resources exclusively for the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, with the aim of supporting and accelerating the EU accession process?

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