Nr.2(10) / 2013.gada jūnijs - Par es.gov.lv

Russia and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region: bridging a (mis)connection gap 69Based on Kaliningrad’s positive experience with the Eurofaculty, theCBSS launched the same project in the Pskov State University in 2009.Under the Russian presidency the second phase of the Pskov Eurofacultyproject (2012–2015), to develop bachelor and masters programs in economics,finance and law in the PSU, has started. 33 The idea of the projectis to bring the above training programs to the Bologna process educationstandards. While St. Petersburg-based universities are capable of reformingtheir curricula in line with the European standards themselves, the Russiannorth-western provincial universities badly need international support andexpertise in this sphere.It should be noted that in Kaliningrad the Eurofaculty project hasgenerated a “spill-over effect” and the idea of establishing a European LawInstitute at the basis of the Kant Baltic Federal University is being activelydiscussed.At the same time, it should be noted that a number of important longtermCBSS priorities such as democracy promotion and human rights(except children’s rights) are not the focus of the Russian presidency. As faras the Russian presidency’s priority on visa regime liberalization in the BSRis concerned, it is simply irrelevant for the CBSS format, because the Councildoes not deal with visa issues. Obviously, this point was picked up fromthe EU-Russian bilateral agenda, where it is normally discussed. Finally,under the Russian presidency, no proposals on a better division of labor andco ordination between the CBSS and other regional initiatives/programs/institutions, such as EUSBSR, Northern Dimension, HELCOM, BSSSC,UBC, Nordic institutions, etc., have been made Without this institutionalsetting the Russian policies in the BSR look isolated and non-contextual.During its CBSS presidency Moscow tried to present itself as an emerging“soft power” in the BSR, making the point that Russia no longer posesany military security threat to the countries of the region. On the contrary, ittried to project an image of a responsible and attractive regional actor thatcan offer mutually beneficial economic, research, educational and culturalprojects to other BSR countries. Whether these new Russian policies areefficient or not remains to be seen in the near future, although some concernson Russia’s role as a “soft power” in the BSR have been already mentioned.33CBSS EuroFaculty Project in Pskov. http://www.cbss-russia.ru/en/projects-eng/eurofacultypskov.html(Home page of CBSS; visited 10.05.2013.).