On 23 January, 2025 Director of the Georgian Institute of Politics,Prof. Kornely Kakachia, participated in the expert workshop with the Polish presidency titled “EU Policy in the Eastern Neighbourhood: A Constantly Changing Geopolitical and Security Landscape.”
At the event experts discussed the changing geopolitical and security landscape in Europe, significantly affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine, which impacts the EU’s role as a geopolitical and normative actor in its neighbourhood and beyond. Security and connectivity have become significant issues in nearly all realms of these relationships. Many policy areas, including energy, trade, and governance, are increasingly securitized.
The EU is rethinking its eastern neighbourhood policy and developing a new Black Sea strategy. There are discussions on connecting the Eastern Partnership countries with Central Asian countries, especially on connectivity. The EU’s ability to adjust its policies in response to evolving circumstances is continually tested by recurring crises.
With a new Defence Commissioner, the EU is breaking new ground. The securitization of nearly all policy areas and the increasing role of hybrid threats and disinformation undermine cohesion in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood and the member states. Resilience has to be redefined since threats to democratic institutions are growing.
This workshop focused on the Polish Presidency’s priorities for enlargement and EaP policies, with a strong focus on the changing security and geopolitical environment.
The two-day workshop centered around these key questions:
- What should the EU’s aspirations be under the new Commission—adaptation, mitigation, and active participation in shaping the security situation?
- How should existing instruments be adapted, and what new instruments must be developed to react to hybrid and security threats?
- What is the role of EaP in this context?
- How can the domestic resilience of EaP countries be strengthened with the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine and massive operations to impact elections in countries like Moldova?
- How can we ensure a credible enlargement process when social cohesion and the EU’s ability to act are waning?
- How do weak institutions and security threats undermine connectivity, and how do we deal with these challenges?
- How can the EU, as a normative actor, compete with other actors like Russia, Turkey, and China when security, informal politics, and weak institutions are key challenges for the countries in the region?
Prof. Kakachia contributed as one of the speakers in the second session titled “Interplay Between Domestic and Foreign Policy Threats.”
The workshop held in Poland was organized by DGAP’s Think Tank Network on the Eastern Partnership in cooperation with the Mieroszewski Centre and with the support of the European Commission.
