(11 March 2015) – The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) has published a policy paper on “The EU and the East in 2030 – Four scenarios for relations between the EU, the Russian Federation, and their Common Neighbourhood”.
In late 2013, the FES decided to engage in this debate, by starting a project named “A Progressive Eastern Policy for the European Union”. The first step in this process was to launch the Scenario Project “The EU and the East in 2030”, the results of which are presented in this brochure. Using its dense European network, the FES invited 20 experts on EU-Russia relations from 12 countries to engage in this exercise. The expert network thus created will serve as a starting point to commence the Europe-wide debate on the EU’s future Eastern Policy.
The scenarios do not attempt to predict the future, but offer different visions of possible and plausible futures. They can be helpful in enabling decision-makers and stakeholders to adapt their strategies in order to achieve or avoid a certain scenario.