Carnegie Europe
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The coronavirus pandemic has revived demands for a human-centric approach to security. In Europe’s east, this means strengthening healthcare systems and building more resilient societies while managing threats such as geopolitical rivalries, conflicts in areas of limited statehood, and cyber warfare.
EU association deals with Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova have proven to be key drivers of reform in all three countries. The emphasis should now be on implementation, not simply legislative adoption.
The EU’s policy of non-recognition and engagement in the South Caucasus has been modestly successful and may offer useful lessons for other parts of Eastern Europe.
The recent deal sealed with Russia over Transnistria is an example of the EU at its best, operating as a technocratic normative actor and letting trade lead geopolitics.
To the EU’s detriment, its policy toward its Eastern neighbors is neither creating an arc of stability nor encouraging democracy.
In the last five years, Moldova has gone from success story to captured state. Any EU support for the country should be linked to the fight against corruption.
The EU needs to realize that its neighborhood policy is a political not a technical tool, operating in a politicized environment where major conflicts take place.
The EU needs to remold its support for fundamental political reform in Eastern Partnership partner states—and use this as a firmer base from which to assuage tensions with Russia.
As Moldova, Macedonia, and Montenegro are knocking on the doors of EU and NATO, the West cannot take these countries’ European orientation for granted.