Great Expectations, Unfulfilled Obligations: The Role of Poland and the V4 in EU's Policy towards Eastern Neighbours
Karolina Pomorska, University of Cambridge
Since its accession to the EU, Poland has been promoting a stronger involvement of the Union in the Eastern neighbourhood. Together with Sweden, it has pushed for the creation of the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The initial satisfaction with this success was then overshadowed by the disillusioning follow-up, coupled with the developments in Belarus and Ukraine during the Polish presidency. As the panel is focusing on the policies of the V4, this paper tries to explore the ways in which Poland had built coalitions inside the Council and what was the role of the Visegrad Four. A special emphasis will be put on the period of Polish presidency and the issues related to the EaP. What are the motivations behind the co-operation and why, on various occasions, Poland had rather looked elsewhere for support? Is the Visegrad Four still relevant for Poland as the coalition bloc in EU negotiations or has it merely become a ‘talking shop’ and a forum for information exchange?