REUNIR: Future-Proofing EU Security, Enlargement and Eastern Neighborhood Policies

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ended the post-Cold War European security order, shattering illusions and creating new realities not just in EU countries but also in its wider neighborhood. By granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and a European perspective to Georgia, the EU has rejected a Russian sphere of influence and instead determined where its future borders should lie. But this has not yet led to policies that also address the broader geopolitical context, in which China and other state actors are also competing for influence.

REUNIR, a Horizon Europe-funded project with 12 partners across Europe, aims to examine how the EU can strengthen its foreign policy and security toolboxes for bolstering the resilience and transformation of (potential) candidate countries in this new age of international relations. The project will provide evidence-based policy recommendations to strengthen the EU’s policy arsenal for helping the countries of the Eastern neighborhood and Western Balkans withstand malign foreign influence and stay the course on the European integration track.

Our team at GPPi develops the project’s foresight approach to systematically identify and assess risks of authoritarian foreign influencing in the EU candidate countries and ensure that recommendations for EU policy-makers are robust against a range of plausible scenarios. More information about the project can be found at reunir​-hori​zon​.eu.

The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 101132446.