Vladimir Socor writes: The European Union has yet to develop a policy regarding the protracted (“frozen”) conflicts in the wider Black Sea region. Russia is both a belligerent and an arbiter in these conflicts, negating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the EU’s associated partners Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova and of the EU’s strategic energy partner Azerbaijan. The EU, with ample instruments and resources but without a policy, has found itself marginalized and even excluded from conflict-management and negotiation processes in its eastern neighborhood. Instead, Russia dominates all these processes, thereby blocking any resolution of the conflicts. Within the EU, Romania has launched an initiative, co-sponsored by ten other member states, to involve Brussels in the management and eventual resolution of these protracted conflicts (see Part One in EDM, July 29)
go to The Jamestown Foundation: Will the EU Shake off Its Lethargy Over the Protracted Conflicts in the Black Sea Region? (Part Two) – Jamestown
