Kaliningrad in the Framework of EU-Russian Relations: Moving Toward Common Spaces

Chair Interbrew Baillet-Latour Working Paper No.20. 2004.

This paper explores the evolvement and change of approaches of both Russia and the EU to the Kaliningrad question over the last decade. The positions and approaches of Russia and the European Union vary on Kaliningrad-related issues. Different understandings of the Kaliningrad question as well as different concepts of the region dominate foreign policy in the EU and Russia. Nevertheless, a trend for a slow rapprochement is revealed.

As the EU and Russia discuss ideas and concepts of EU-Russian Common Spaces, the Kaliningrad Region can be of positive value to EURussian relations, promoting a more cooperative Wider Europe with less dividing lines. Kaliningrad can serve both Russia and the EU as a pilot/model region of integration as well as a booster, connecting chain, and a litmus test of cooperation within the dialogue on EU-Russian Common Spaces. The paper argues that it will be far-sighted of the EU and Russia to make Kaliningrad an integral part of the dialogue on Common Spaces so that the Oblast might become one of the connecting knots of European-Russian cooperation.