30.12.2012 Views

On-line journal no. 4 – July 2012 - Modelling the New Europe

On-line journal no. 4 – July 2012 - Modelling the New Europe

On-line journal no. 4 – July 2012 - Modelling the New Europe

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>On</strong>-<strong>line</strong> Journal <strong>Modelling</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Europe</strong><br />

Issue <strong>no</strong>. 4/<strong>2012</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> future it has to better define what role it can play <strong>the</strong>re and especially how it can make<br />

a difference. 47<br />

The Russian trend of reluctance or <strong>no</strong>n-involvement towards Black Sea initiatives<br />

continued for <strong>the</strong> year 2008 when o<strong>the</strong>r cooperation schemes have emerged. Russia was<br />

involved nei<strong>the</strong>r in <strong>the</strong> Union of Black Sea and Caspian Confederation of Enterprises,<br />

<strong>no</strong>r in <strong>the</strong> Regional Cooperation Council and it was sceptic regarding <strong>the</strong> implementation<br />

of <strong>the</strong> Black Sea Euroregion.<br />

All <strong>the</strong> forums and initiatives dec<strong>line</strong>d by Russia had a very short life, fading into oblivion<br />

several years after <strong>the</strong>ir initiation. This should be a signal for <strong>the</strong> <strong>Europe</strong>an Union to focus<br />

its strategy towards <strong>the</strong> Black Sea region in such a manner as to offer <strong>the</strong> opportunity to<br />

collaborate with Russia in those sectors that already proved to function. In o<strong>the</strong>r words,<br />

before creating a strategy for <strong>the</strong> Black Sea region, EU should develop and establish a<br />

specific and constructive regional collaboration plan with Russia, o<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> wider<br />

scheme included in <strong>the</strong> Strategic Partnership. This is undoubtedly a difficult mission since<br />

Russian foreign policy until <strong>no</strong>w has focused on creating and maintaining security gaps<br />

leaving <strong>no</strong> alternative of engagement.<br />

From our analysis, we can draw <strong>the</strong> conclusion that until <strong>no</strong>w, cooperation with Russia<br />

could be successfully achieved only on bilateral bases and only on security and eco<strong>no</strong>mic<br />

sectors. Despite being praised for its pragmatism and its “tenaciously realistic approach to<br />

international affairs” 48 , Russia had a contradictory position regarding <strong>the</strong> differentiation<br />

between internal and external regional actors. As Makarychev argues, “Russia welcomes<br />

investment from external financial resources (from US and Japan) in regional projects, but<br />

47 Mariana Milosheva and David Krushe, Review of <strong>the</strong> first year of Black Sea Trust for Regional<br />

Cooperation,<br />

[http://www.pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADS397.pdf] 3 June <strong>2012</strong><br />

48 Joseph Wood, “The Kremlin’s behaviour limits <strong>the</strong> scope of Western engagement” in Brussels Forum<br />

Paper Series, 2009, pp. 3-39<br />

30

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!