Debate "The European Union and the frozen conflicts in the Black Sea"

This debate brief examines the frozen conflicts in the Black Sea Region and measures that could be taken to limit their negative impact. The European Union has yet to develop a policy regarding the protracted (“frozen”) conflicts in the wider Black Sea region. Russia is both a belligerent and an arbiter in these conflicts, negating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the EU’s associated partners Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova and of the EU’s strategic energy partner Azerbaijan. The EU, with ample instruments and resources but without a policy, has found itself marginalized and even excluded from conflict-management and negotiation processes in its eastern neighbourhood.  Instead, Russia dominates all these processes, thereby blocking any resolution of the conflicts. Within the EU, Romania has launched an initiative, co-sponsored by ten other member states, to involve Brussels in the management and eventual resolution of these frozen conflicts. The Euro-Atlantic community is strongly represented in the region, with two EU member states (Bulgaria and Romania), three (Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey) NATO members and two coastal states seeking closer cooperation with both the EU and NATO (Georgia and Ukraine).