Minutes of five discussions from meetings with groups of experts, academics, officials and students in four Eastern European countries: Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Discussions focused on the role of the EU in promoting domestic reforms in these eastern neighbourhood countries. Four case studies explored four sectors: food safety, state aid, gas market and visa liberalisation. Discussions took place in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova and two in Ukraine, between March 2013 and June 2014. What role does the European Union (EU) play in domestic change in the post-Soviet states? This question has gained salience since the EU has stepped up its role in the region to facilitate these countries' alignment with EU rules, norms and standards (the acquis). However, no precedent exists for EU's promotion of the acquis as a template for development without the concurrent membership prospective. Thus the EU engagement in the post-Soviet states provides an excellent opportunity to analyse the EU's transformative power' outside the context of enlargement. The project examines the domestic process and outcomes of convergence with EU rules in four post-Soviet states: Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The overarching objective is to assess the impact of EU policies against the background of partner countries' domestic structures and policy preferences, and the influence of other external players. The focus is on four policy fields: anti-corruption measures; regulation of state aid; visa facilitation/ liberalisation; and the energy sector. The project uses a triangulation of qualitative research methods: documentary analysis; semi-structured interviews with officials from the case studies countries and the EU; and focus groups with non-governmental experts and academics in the post-Soviet countries.

Minutes of discussions prepared by the local organisers (think-tanks)