The Countries of the Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy and Czech Foreign Policy
The Countries of the Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy and Czech Foreign Policy

Author(s): Elsa Tulmets
Subject(s): Political history, Economic policy, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Political behavior, Comparative politics, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů
Keywords: Czech Foreign Policy; Multilateral issues; EU Policy; Czech EU Presidency; Ukraine; Belarus; Moldova; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Economic Actors;
Summary/Abstract: Since the beginning of the 1990s, the countries of ‘Eastern Europe’ situated between the European Union (EU) and Russia, which were offered in 2003/2004 to beneficiate from the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), did not represent a long-term priority of the Czech Foreign Policy. As a matter of fact, until the Czech NATO and EU accessions, the successive governments particularly focused on the West. Thus, ‘Eastern Europe’ was, for many years, seen under the shadow of Russia. It interested only a limited group of people from administrations, think-tanks and civil society. Official governmental documents issued in the timeframe of 2007–2009, like the government Program Declaration1 and the governmental coalition agreement between the ODS, the SZ and the KDU-ČSL, contained only rare mentions to the Eastern partners. In general, they tended to link the countries of ‘Eastern Europe’ with the issue of EU enlargement. Nor was there any update of the Foreign Policy concept of 2003–2006, which would indicate the drawing of a stronger interest from the Czech side for the Eastern partners.3

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