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ECFR launches Advisory Group on Russia and Wider Europe

The first meeting of ECFR's Advisory Group on Russia and Wider Europe took place in Brussels on the Monday and Tuesday of last week. The group's members include representatives from the EU institutions, Foreign Ministries of EU Member States and European NGOs, as well as ECFR experts. This meeting allowed Andrew Wilson, ECFR's leading expert on Russia and the Eastern European Neighbourhood, to set the stage for an initial brainstorm on his policy initiatives in this area. In the future, Andrew hopes to engage the Advisory Group members across all his work on Russia and Wider Europe, with the aim of fostering a more coherent and united European policy on this region.

The gathering of the group's members in Brussels was kick-started by a dinner debate on Monday 22nd which discussed the latest changes in EU-Russia relations. The half-day brainstorm that took place the following morning was dedicated to an open discussion on the next steps for the political relationship between the EU and Russia. The debate covered, among other issues, the current internal developments in Russia and reflected on the EU's response to Moscow's foreign policy initiatives against the backdrop of President Medvedev's security proposal and the idea of an EU-Russia partnership for modernisation. The meeting's second half focused on the very timely topic of the potential consequences of Ukraine's presidential election results for the EU. 

Andrew blogged throughout the elections on ECFR's website: "Ukraine decides".

Andrew is in the process of drafting a Ukraine memo - using the ideas developed through the Advisory Group - outlining what the EU should do next.