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  • Bidzina Lebanidze

    Dr.Bidzina Lebanidze is the visiting lecturer at Berlin School of Economics and Law, researcher at Free University of Berlin and associated fellow at Kolleg-Forschergruppe “The Transformative Power of Europe”. Since 2014 he has been conducting a research within the FP7 project MAXCAP (Maximizing the integration capacity of the European Union). He obtained his PhD degree in political science from Free University of Berlin, and Master’s degree in international relations from Tbilisi State University. Previously, he also worked for the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and lectured at Ilia State University

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18/12/2017 Bidzina Lebanidze

Life Without EU Membership: The Case for a Multi-Speed EaP

Publish Date:
18-12-2017

The recent Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Brussels highlighted once again the gap between the expectations of the Eastern partners and the European Union. The advanced Eastern partner countries aspire for nothing less than full EU membership – something which the European Council is not ready to offer. Yet, the exclusive focus on the rather distant membership perspective has overshadowed more acute problems: for many, the EaP format itself is considered inherently ineffective undermining of the EU’s soft power in Eastern partner countries. This paper argues that, as a starting point, the EaP could be replaced with new instruments for more flexible integration. This approach would formally acknowledge the multispeed nature of the Eastern neighborhood and allow advanced EaP states to join a polycentric EU system without offering full membership.

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Bidzina Lebanidze

Dr.Bidzina Lebanidze is the visiting lecturer at Berlin School of Economics and Law, researcher at Free University of Berlin and associated fellow at Kolleg-Forschergruppe “The Transformative Power of Europe”. Since 2014 he has been conducting a research within the FP7 project MAXCAP (Maximizing the integration capacity of the European Union). He obtained his PhD degree in political science from Free University of Berlin, and Master’s degree in international relations from Tbilisi State University. Previously, he also worked for the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and lectured at Ilia State University