The Evolution of EU Policy Towards its CIS Neighbours

When the EU began to plan enlargement, it was important to define and establish a new relationship with the successor states to the Soviet Union. This paper traces the evolution of the EU's policy towards those successor states from 1991 until the present. In the 1990s the EU tended to treat the post-Soviet states as if they were homogenous and policy was concentrated primarily on Russia. From 2000 onwards, a more differentiated policy was adopted, particularly once the European Neighbourhood Policy was launched. However, because of Russia's energy resources on which the EU was dependent, and because the EU's neighbourhood was also Russia's neighbourhood and Russian policy makers increasingly resented EU intervention into an area which they considered a vital sphere of Russia's interests, Russia still tended to dominate the attention of the EU.