Foreign Policy On The Slopes Of Caucasus

The past years showed to the world and to the European Union that classical approaches are not enough to be a power breaker in the Caucasian region, where the overlap of history, myth, and cultures creates a unique geopolitical context marked by century old grudges and imaginary or real socio-economical issues. It is clear that concepts like “ring of friends” or Eastern Partnership need a rebranding and an upgrade due to contemporary context changes. Russian expansion, Turkish political shifts, Ukrainian crisis, Iranian ambitions, Kurd issues, energy policies and socio-economical convulsions are defining the new shape of the geographical areas on both side of the Caucasus Mountain. In this context the European leadership needs to rethink the foreign policy approach to the region and to create a new set of actions in this context. This difficult task is needed not only from the perspective of Europe’s energetic security but from the point of regional stability, because Europe and its global development depend on its involvement in the neighboring regions. From this perspective our paper would like to analyze and create a realistic image on the dynamic of the relations of EU with the countries in this region and the perspectives in the contemporary context where the overlapping geopolitical interests are making this region a key one for several future issues.