Carnegie Moscow Center
While providing support to Moldova is important, it’s essential that the EU be tougher on Chisinau regarding its inability to implement reforms.
Vice President Biden's March visit to Moldova, coupled with renewed interest within Congress and the European Union, has raised the prospect of a breakthrough in Moldova's secessionist region, Transnistria.
The West must look ahead to when President Lukashenka is no longer in office and help the people of Belarus develop its civil society.
President Obama's visit to Warsaw serves as a geopolitical re-investment in a region that hosts Europe’s most pro-American populace, and which had developed very serious doubts over whether the United States was still the reliable friend and ally they want so much.
As Belarus faces increased isolation and potential economic collapse, it is time for the international community to come together and seek a least bad outcome for the short term, while laying the foundation for long-term positive change.
In order for the EU to succeed in promoting political and economic reform in several eastern European countries, it must find a way to offer significant incentives to the political elites of those nations even as it withholds the possibility of EU membership.
Promoting democracy in the six post-Soviet countries in Eastern Europe that were designated by the European Union as deserving special attention will require the EU to offer incentives for implementing reforms.
A legally binding free-trade agreement could be a key instrument in the EU's efforts to push Ukraine to reform.
Following December’s presidential election in Belarus, which European observers said failed to meet international standards, Alexander Lukashenka claimed an implausible landslide victory and launched a wave of political repression.
Amid growing concern over Viktor Yanukovych’s policies, the question remains to what extent the current political set-up in Ukraine can withstand international and domestic pressure.