Only 5 years after its coming into being the Eastern Partnership is seriously challenged by a number of factors:
– Different choices of strategic direction of Eastern partners
– Russian resentment to deeper EU engagement in the region
– The conflict in Ukraine
Given these challenges, the EU must ensure that the Eastern Partnership remains ambitious and attractive. The right balance needs to be struck between long-term goals and concrete offers of support in the short-term. Decisive and potentially far-reaching decisions could be on the menu at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga in May 2015. After all, the future security and stability of the European continent are at stake.
