IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs’ Post

🔔 New Publication 🔔 📝 The ongoing full-scale invasion of #Ukraine by Russia reopened the discussion of how to transform and stabilise the EU’s neighbourhood. While the European Union has made progress regarding Ukraine's application and has taken publicly visible and symbolic actions to move forward this renewed #enlargement process, further steps are needed. Amidst proposals on staged accession and alternative forms of integration, a recent Global Policy Center paper suggests a new form of realistic transitionary integration: the European Family Action Plan. In our new policy brief, ‘European Family Action Plan. Mapping Transitionary Integration while Moving Towards Membership’ co-authored with my dear colleague Nicolai von Ondarza (Head of EU/Europe Research Division, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)), we propose six principles that will prepare candidate countries for EU membership while maximizing their collaboration with the EU. The six principles outlined in the paper – membership perspective, conditionality, sectoral integration into the single market, access to special funds, institutional participation, and a security component – could, if implemented together, offer a credible and attractive path for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and countries in the Western Balkans. By including candidate countries in policies, programs, agencies, funding and inviting them to partake in shaping the EU, the European Family Action Plan proposes a path to move forward with the enlargement process in the years to come. Please find the full policy brief in Global Policy Center’s webpage: https://lnkd.in/ecYi7Sb2 #EUEnlargement #FutureofEurope #EuropeanFamilyActionPlan #TransitionaryIntegration IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs Manuel Muñiz Angel Alonso Arroba Celsa Susino Cristina Vicente Ruiz Luis de Lossada i Gallart Kerry Parke ROSA ARANDA Barrio Juncal Sánchez Mendieta Iratxe Piñeiro Garate Alejandra Carolina Acedo Samaniego Fabrizio Salvador

Thank you SIEPS, The Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, for organising an excellent one-day conference on EU #enlargement in Stockholm last Friday. I was happy to participate together with colleagues from the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS).   Some of my own thoughts after the conference concerned the narratives about, and the legitimacy of, the EU enlargement agenda.   To ensure public support for enlargement, there is a need for: 🌻discussing enlargement more widely, 🌻countering Russian narratives that enlargement is equal to war and instability, 🌻convincingly answering questions about why enlargement is necessary and in the EU’s core security interests, 🌻spelling out the costs of non-enlargement more clearly, 🌻better explaining how enlargement is linked to the EU mission of delivering prosperity to its citizens. 

Twenty years ago, I was elected as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, coinciding with the enactment of the European Neighbourhood Policy. This initiative marked a significant shift after the extensive enlargement of Eastern European states, leaving Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries outside its scope. However, we believed this was not the end, and that Ukraine would eventually have the opportunity to join the European Union. Together with my colleagues, we worked diligently to strengthen ties with EU member states. Today, Ukraine faces its greatest challenge yet due to the Russian invasion, which has accelerated our pursuit of candidate status and provided a clearer path toward integration. To move forward, Ukraine must implement reforms that drive economic development, particularly through strengthening local governance. As the head of the Odesa Rayon (District) Council, I initiated negotiations with ALDA, an organization crucial for promoting local democracy, active citizenship, and collaboration between local authorities and civil society across Europe and beyond. Alongside ALDA’s Secretary General, Antonella Valmorbida, we are developing a joint agenda to enhance connections between Odesa Rayon and other municipalities in Europe. I greatly appreciate Antonella’s dedication to this cause and her open hearted leadership. Thank Odesa’s mayor, Gennadiy Truhanov, for his genuine commitment to fostering international dialogue. #alda #aldaeurope #democracy #europeanintegration #leadership

We are delighted to see that evidence pieces from our work at the Centre for Britain and Europe were cited in the report of the European Affairs Committee of the UK House of Lords. The report aims to analyse the impact of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, and the unprecedented international response on UK – EU ties. Furthermore, the report attempts to look beyond immediate crisis management and consider the long – term implications of these changes.     Dr Laura Chappell, Professor Theofanis Exadaktylos, Professor Amelia Hadfield and Dr Michael Martin Richter, PhD on their evidence pieces mention that “The UK, as a country in Europe with close relations to Kyiv and EU capitals, should support Ukraine’s aspirations but act as an independent arbitrator calling out publicly both sides when blatant occasions of pretence occur. The new framework of EU-Ukraine relations, in which the accession perspective serves as a potentially transformative force should be exploited as it can otherwise help cultivate Eurosceptic tendencies in Ukraine or ‘Euro-fatigue’, as can be seen to some extent in other candidate countries (see for instance the case of Turkey, Mungiu-Pippidi, 2020). The UK can therefore, through its special position play a crucial role to publicly nudge both actors to deliver on the concrete promises made by the EU and Ukraine with respect to the intertwined reconstruction and EU accession process. For this, it needs to position itself as a constructive actor that openly calls out failures to follow through on past “reaffirmations” and “commitments” made by both sides.”    #houseoflords #europeanaffairscommittee #foreignaffairs #ukpolitics #ukgovernment #europeanunion University of Surrey University of Surrey Politics Society   Image credit: lazyllama / Adobe Stock 

🔔 Today, June 25th, 2024, the European Union opened accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Opening accession negotiations via the first Intergovernmental Conferences is a milestone. Today, the first such conference with Ukraine took place, featuring Stefanishyna Olga, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, and the European delegation led by Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib. This is a historic day! 📍 Ukraine received EU membership candidate status in June 2022. The European Commission recommended launching accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova in November 2023, and the European Council agreed on it a month later. On 21 June, the EU Council approved the negotiating framework for Ukraine and Moldova, which paved the way for the launch of accession talks. #EUAccession #Ukraine #EU

💡 On 11-12 June, the governments of Germany and Ukraine will be co-hosting the Ukraine Recovery Conference #URC2024 in Berlin. The conference is dedicated to mobilising international support for Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery and will bring together a broad range of stakeholders, including government officials, business and civil society representatives. A main topic of the conference will be the link between Ukraine’s recovery and its integration into the European Union. In this short video Dr. Julian Bergmann, Miriam Kosmehl, Julia Langbein and Gwendolyn Sasse discuss key issues that policymakers should be aware of in order to link Ukraine’s accession negotiations and recovery efforts in a mutually reinforcing manner. Read more in the policy brief: https://lnkd.in/d4cTywTS.

How has Russia's invasion of Ukraine reshaped the EU's Eastern neighbourhood policy and has the new policy affected the strategies of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries? 🔍 In their new article published on Policy Studies, FIIA's Ryhor Nizhnikau and Arkady Moshes from the Institute's Russia, the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Eurasia research programme examine the policy responses to the war of the EU and the countries of the EU-Russia contested neighbourhood. They specifically highlight the shifts in two key attributes of the EU's foreign policy, which have traditionally defined its neighbourhood policy: its relations with Russia and the inclusiveness of the EaP countries in the European project. Read the full article ⬇ https://lnkd.in/dby5mqS2 #researchpaper #europeanunion #ukraine #eap

📚 In January 2024, the Trans-European Political Studies Association (TEPSA - Trans European Policy Studies Association) published the book "Enlargement and the Future of Europe: Views from Capitals" edited by Michael Kaeding, Johannes Pollak and Paul Schmidt. The book presents the opinions and assessments of more than 40 authors – experts from all the EU countries and neighbouring states. The articles analyse the integration experience of the EU, assess the current situation in Europe and outline the prospects for further enlargement of the European Union.  The digest contains the article by the Razumkov Centre President Yu. Yakymenko and the co-director of foreign policy and international security programmes M. Pashkov "EU Enlargement Considering New Realities: The Ukrainian Direction", in which the authors outline the progress and specific features of the partnership between Kyiv and Brussels in the conditions of a large-scale war, describe the priority lines and areas of the Ukraine-EU cooperation, and assess the prospects of the European integration of Ukraine. 📌 Link ⏯ https://lnkd.in/dBGxU_FT

📚 IDOS #PolicyBrief The EU has adopted the Ukraine Facility to provide reliable funding to Ukraine up to 2027, with the aim of supporting recovery and key institutional and administrative reforms required for Ukraine’s EU accession. The main roadmap for implementation of both is the Ukrainian government’s so-called Ukraine Plan. However, recovery and EU accession will not automatically create synergies, and may, at worst, overstretch Ukrainian government and private-sector capacities as well as societal support. To maximise synergies between the processes, policymakers should consider the following recommendations 💡 https://lnkd.in/d4cTywTS. By Dr. Julian Bergmann (IDOS), Miriam Kosmehl (Bertelsmann Stiftung), Julia Langbein (ZOiS - Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien) and Gwendolyn Sasse (ZOiS - Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien). | #UkraineFacility #UkrainePlan #EU

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's remarks on the UK and the European Convention on Human Rights. Back to first principles, liberty, equality and dignity: "We will approach this issue with humanity… And with profound respect for international law. And that’s why my government scrapped the unworkable Rwanda scheme on day one. And it’s why we will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. Churchill himself was among the chief architects of the Convention. It was built on the blood bond of 1945… And our shared sacrifice for freedom. I myself first read about these principles of the Convention and international law in a law library in Leeds, well 40 years ago now. And that inspired me in everything I have done since then… And I still draw strength from it and value from it everyday. Because they speak about the dignity of every human being… And that word “dignity” is there in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the most important words in it. Dignity of every human being. The very essence of what it is to be human. And that is our legacy… And so the nations of Europe must lead again today." #echr #humanrights #internationallaw #esg #internationalarbitration #eulaw