The EU member states and the Eastern Neighbourhood: From composite to consistent EU foreign policy?

In his paper on the role of the Euro-Atlantic community in the south Caucasus, Nasimi Aghayev, editor-in-chief of the Caucasian Review of International Affairs, analyses how to effectively counter the risk of Russia reasserting control in the region. He claims that in the absence of stronger Euro-Atlantic engagement and commitments, the states of the south Caucasus will become disillusioned with the Euro-Atlantic community and consider Russian interests and positions more frequently and earnestly in their policies and interactions with the West. This would inevitably lead to increased dependence on Russia (both economically and in terms of security) and gradual alienation from the West, thus substantially endangering Euro-Atlantic interests (primarily those of energy and security) in the region, resulting in the “Finlandization”– i.e. forcing the region’s states to seriously consider the “Russian”factor in all their interactions with the West – of the south Caucasus