European Policy Towards the South Caucasus after the Georgia Crisis

Author(s): Sabine Fischer
Editor(s): Iris Kempe, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Lili Di Puppo
Series: Caucasus Analytical Digest (CAD)
Issue: 1
Pages: 2-6
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Jefferson Institute, Washington D.C.; Heinrich Böll Foundation, Tbilisi; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2008

Three months after the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008, this article takes stock of the situation in Georgia and the South Caucasus, and examines EU policy during and after the crisis against the background of the Union's policy towards its eastern neighborhood and EU-Russia relations. The main lessons to be learned from the crisis are: First, that the EU needs a more flexible approach towards unresolved conflicts in the post-Soviet space; second, that the EU needs to strengthen its engagement in the eastern neighborhood in general; and third, EU and US policies need to be better coordinated.

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