By Sergii Glebov

One of the fundamental features of the Eastern Partnership policy is the absence of a classical military component in its institutional architecture. Launched in 2009 as a component of the European Neighbourhood Policy, this initiative was designed to promote political association, economic integration, and the dissemination of European norms and values among six partner states: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. Its conceptual foundation was based on the principles of "soft power" and conditionality, whereby the European Union used economic incentives, financial assistance, institutional cooperation, and normative influence to encourage democratic reforms. At the same time, issues of military security, collective defence, or defence planning were deliberately left outside the scope of the Eastern Partnership.

This blog post includes insights derived from the deliverable 2.4 "The relevance of the EaP" developed as part of the GEO-POWER-EU project. The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 101132692. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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