The EU´s Policy in the South Caucasus

In this paper, we analyse how Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia respond to and try to shape the EU’s
South Caucasus policy. The EU has since the 2000s developed differentiated policies for the three countries.
We ask to what extent this differentiation supports the EU goals of strengthening impact and visibility
in the region. We argue that the EU’s policies come with three flaws. First, the EU has failed to
significantly increase engagement in conflict resolution in the region. Second, even though there were
considerable concerns over the rule of law in some of the South Caucasus countries, the EU has refrained
from using political conditionality. Third, the EU has focused on wide-scale export of EU standards, which
raises questions concerning the EU’s acquis capacity to serve as a blueprint for development in these post-
Soviet countries.