Europe's Eastern Partnership with Andrius Kubilius and Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze

On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by two special guests, former Prime Minister of Lithuania, Andrius Kubilius, and Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, to talk about Europe’s Eastern Partnership initiative.

Last year was the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership and there was supposed to be a large celebration where the relationship was to be renewed with new policies for the next 10 years. But when COVID happened, the summit was postponed to 2021, and now it has been postponed again. This new postponement begs the question of the continued relevance of the initiative in its current shape. If that is the case, what is the way forward? Does it make sense to have this one-size-fits-all format for the EU’s neighborhood? Should the goals for the Eastern Partnership with geopolitical insight be rethought considering the instability in the Southern Caucasus, and considering the immediate threat that Russia poses to some countries in the region? And what should be the West’s approach and strategy towards Belarus? Thibault Muzergues and his guests debate all these questions - and many more.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is currently a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, and head of the Parliamentary Committee on EU integration. Previously, she was Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration from 2016 to 2019. She is also the co-author of a collective book called “Black Sea Region: Cooperation and Security Building” which she published with Routledge in 2016.

Andrius Kubilius is currently a Member of the European Parliament and co-president of the Euronest parliamentary assembly. He served twice as a Prime Minister of Lithuania, twice in times of financial and economic crisis for this Baltic nation, in 1999-2000 and from 2008 to 2012. He was also the leader of the opposition from 2012 to 2016.

Find Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze on Twitter at @IKlympush

Find Andrius Kubilius on Twitter at @AndriusKubilius

Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter at @tmuzergues