The European Union and Relations with its Major Eastern Neighbours

The European Union, which has gradually expanded its geographical space with the arrival of new members, now shares – or almost shares – a border in the east and the south with a certain number of countries that are likely to be troublesome in diplomatic terms. This is particularly the case, as Jean-François Drevet shows here, with three of its major eastern neighbours: Russia, Turkey and Iran. As argued in this column, the foreign policies of these three countries, which aspire to be regional powers, have the following features in common: aggressive behaviour towards their neighbours, an obsessive conception of their security and relatively vague political objectives. In a context like this, what position can the European Union adopt to reconcile their ambitions with its own pursuit of regional security respecting international law? Pacifism, pragmatism, mistrust and expansionism are of no help here in “squaring the circle”…