On 7 June 2019, SEnECA organised a panel on the topic “EU and Russia in Central Asia, Eastern Neighbourhood and Western Balkans” in the framework of the TEPSA Pre-Presidency Conference in Helsinki. Julian Plottka (IEP, Germany) participated as a speaker on behalf of the SEnECA consortium. The other speakers were Arkady Moshes, Programme Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Pernille Rieker, Research Professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Dušan Reljić, Head of Office, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. The debate was moderated by Atila Eralp, Professor at the Middle East Technical University. A video of the panel discussion can be watched here.
The discussants talked about the involvement of the EU and Russia in Central Asia, Eastern Neighbourhood and Western Balkans. Pernille Rieker commented that the Central Asia strategy is not focused on certain priorities, but instead covers many different policy areas. Julian Plottka, Senior Researcher at IEP Germany who participated as a speaker on behalf of the SEnECA consortium, stated that while it is difficult for the EU to compete with Russia in Central Asia due to Russia’s cultural influence through mass media, among other means, the Central Asian states are still interested in a closer cooperation with the EU. The main aim of TEPSA’s Pre-Presidency Conferences is to bring together academics and researchers from the broad TEPSA network, policy-makers, media and civil society in order to discuss the agenda and challenges of the upcoming Council Presidencies.
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