The European Union must establish a genuine “Russia Policy” in order to support cohesion between Member-States vis-à-vis Russia and to promote its interests in that country.
In their policy paper, Cyrille Bret, lecturer at Sciences Po, and Florent Parmentier, Sciences Po lecturer and associate researcher at the HEC Paris Centre for Geopolitics, call for Europe’s leaders to resist the temptation to adopt an Ostpolitik of appeasement, an illusory reset or a conflict with its main rival and partner on the continent.

European doctrine must be based on a precise, dispassionate and realistic identification of the structural rivalries between the two geopolitical entities. Europe needs to settle its past with Russia without stooping to condescension, stand up to the power struggle with Russia when provoked, and propose a credible and realistic work programme so that inevitable rivalries do not drive out necessary partnerships.

Cyrille Bret and Florent Parmentier offer three series of recommendations:

1. To prevent the destabilisation of the EU-Russia neighborhood

2. To promote a space for dialogue and consultation

3. To prepare economic convergence