Dr. Maryna Rabinovych and Dr. Anne Pintsch are out with the article “Sustainable Development: A Common Denominator for the EU’s Policy towards the Eastern Partnership”, published recently with the International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs.
Using document analysis with a focus on region-level documents and the cases of Ukraine and Azerbaijan, the article demonstrates the EU’s tendency to shift from an emphasis on European integration and common values to the sustainable development concept. This tendency can be seen as the EU’s response to the challenge of the heterogeneity of the Eastern Partnership countries’ cultures, political regimes and foreign policy aspirations, persisting since the 2004 enlargement. With respect to this tendency, the article stresses the need to balance sustainable development, integration efforts and democratization in the Eastern Partnership countries amid increasing differentiation and geopolitical challenges in the region.