Europeanising or Securitising the 'Outsiders'? Assessing the EU's Partnership Building Approach with Eastern Europe

Lord Robin Teverson:

'Thank you again for involving me in your presentation to the FCO. I have already referred to a number of your findings in recent conversations about Europe and its expansion' (24 June 2010).

DG RELEX, European Commission:

'Your findings fully support our intuitive assumptions regarding the policy's implementation. They would be very useful for the forthcoming review of the policy in the region' (25 June 2010).

Valeriu Gheorghiu, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Republic of Moldova

'I consider that the conclusions of the project were made in a correct way. I also appreciate the findings of the research because actually, one year and half after our discussion [with Dr. Elena Korosteleva], we have absolutely different situation in Moldova. Our country is considered a leader in Eastern Partnership, and this is clear when we compare the results of your project with the actual evolution of Moldova-EU relationship' (24 November 2010)

The project investigates the effectiveness of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and the newly launched Eastern Partnership (EaP) in three east European countries – Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Russia is also included into research, as a greater geopolitical neighbour, affecting the EU’s relations with Eastern Europe (EE).

In our research we comprehensively combine both the EU’s and the EE’s perspectives, and include the whole range of methods in order to achieve a better understanding of the success and limitations of the ENP/EaP. We undertook a range of interviews with European officials in Brussels and Strasburg (Commission, Parliament and Member States’ permanent representations) and examined EU’s official documents and published data. To complement this, we also collected afresh nation-wide surveys, expert interviews, focus-groups and school essay in the four east European Countries, to gain intimate knowledge of the process and problems related to legitimizing the ENP/EaP in the region.

The project is organised in cooperation with partners in EE: Centre for Political Research, Belarusian State University; Centre for Sociological Research, Moscow State University; Independent Sociological Research Centre in Moldova and SOCIS Centre for Social and Political Research in Ukraine.

The project is funded by the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for 2008-10 (RES-061-25-0001). Additional funding is provided by an Aberystwyth University 'Research Support Grant'.