A media conference at the 2015 Eastern European partnership held in Riga. Demotix/Aziz Karimov. All rights reserved.At a time when the fourth Eastern Partnership summit is taking place in Riga, the EU’s eastern policy stands at a crossroads. Over the past six years, the EU’s technocratic approach has yielded only limited results.
On the one hand, major progress has been achieved in terms of integration with the EU. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are now associated countries and the EU has lifted Schengen visa requirements for Moldovan citizens travelling with biometric passports.
On the other hand, despite progress in these areas, the outlook for democratisation has grown bleaker in most Eastern Partnership countries, economic transformation has been chaotic at best, and poverty and inequality are on the rise. In essence, the EU’s approach (focusing on dialogue with governments and narrow circles of experts) seems increasingly disconnected from the general public and has not favoured broader societal and political change in the region.
