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This paper advocates that the EU support a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder initiative to achieve synergies from regional cooperation in the wider Black Sea area. It discusses the challenges, recent developments and EU interests in this region. The paper further outlines different models of regionalism promoted by the EU in the European periphery. The paper concludes by setting out guidelines for an EU initiative. The author emphasizes the objectives for sector-specific actions, the scope of variable geographic geometries in terms of desirable cooperation in the region, and the frameworks of institutional and financial arrangements to support such processes.