Eastern Partnership in South Caucasus

The South Caucasus office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation has been working on EU-South Caucasus dialogue and the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy for years. A regional perspective can be beneficial for adapting and upgrading EaP policy, especially in times where new concepts are in demand and expectation management is needed. The EU is finalizing its review of the EaP policy and the German EU presidency in the second half of 2020 can be an important tool for developing a more ambitious EU neighborhood policy. We have asked three regional experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to review EaP policy of the last 10 years and provide their recommendations on how to step forward. One key argument is that civil society can play a more decisive role in the reform process of the three states and should play a more prominent role in EU policy. Despite all the challenges, EaP policy is a success story but it now needs to adapt to the changing geopolitical environment and take more seriously the lessons learned from the reality check of the policy in the target countries.