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EU 2016: ANOTHER STEP TO BEING AN IMPORTANT GLOBAL POWER
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energy association agreement that is under ne-
gotiation.
The future of EU-Ukraine relations is insepa-
rable from its relationship with Russia and, in
turn, has an overwhelming influence on the EU-
Russia agenda. The line constantly maintained
by the EU from the outset of the crisis in Ukraine
was reiterated on 17 October 2016 in the
European Council’s CFSP report
Our Priorities in
2016
. In it, it said “the EU does not recognise
the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol,
which led to restrictive measures against Russia
(followed by retaliation measures from Russia),
nor does it recognise the elections in the
Crimean Peninsula”. The EU’s German-driven
foreign policy demands the full application of
the Minsk Agreements of 2014 and 2015. The
EU links the continuation of the restrictive meas-
ures against Russia to the full implementation of
those agreements. Therefore, the destabilisa-
tion of Ukraine will continue to have a consider-
able impact on Russia’s relations with the Union,
limiting dialogue between the two. In fact, the
Council report acknowledges that impact,
which is also down to Russia’s action in Syria
since 2015, reducing the space for bilateral dia-
logue even further.
The EU’s external agenda towards the East is
not only focused on bilateral relations, it also
keeps close tabs on the internal evolution of
each one of the countries. Thus, in Georgia, the
conflicts of South Ossetia and Abkhazia remain
ongoing. The EU supports the territorial integrity
and the sovereignty of Georgia and the resolu-
tion of the conflict through its Special
Representative of the Monitoring Mission for the
South Caucasus and Georgia. Azerbaijan is an-
other country whose internal evolution the EU is
following very closely, bearing in mind that it is
key for the diversification of the EU countries’
energy sources. That is why the EU is trying to
reach a new global agreement for its relations.
There were two main obstacles to that in 2016:
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the human
rights record. Lastly, there was indeed progress
with Belarus in 2016. The Council decided to lift
most of the restrictive measures, stressing, how-
ever, the shortcomings on human rights and
democracy and condemning the application of
the death penalty, on which it called for a mora-
torium on executions.
Terrorism and migrations also provided a
new focus to the EU’s relations with the Balkan
countries. Last year, the decision was taken to
prepare a Plan 2017-2019 for regional assis-
tance to the Balkans with regard to terrorism,
organised crime and border security, funded by
the pre-accession instrument. In the same re-
gion, the politicisation and risk of violence in
Kosovo prompted extending the European Rule
of Law Mission (EULEX) to June 2018. Similarly,
the United Nations Security Council voted to re-
new the EU’s military operation in Bosnia-
Herzegovina (EUFOR/ALTHEA). Lastly, the acces-
sion negotiations with Serbia continued to
move forward after the first two chapters were
opened in December 2015.
The lack of opportunities combines with
radicalisation and migrations in the
Mediterranean
The border between the European Union and
Africa is the most unequal on the planet, no
matter which indicator one might use as a yard-
stick. The differences between the income per
capita of the EU and that of the African coun-
tries can be as much as 1 to 30. The average
birth rate on the African continent is 4.7 chil-
dren per mother, compared with an average
European rate that is in the region of 1.6. On