The European Union's strategic approach to the Black Sea region

Key Points

The EESC:

• welcomes the long-awaited initiative to devote particular attention to the Black Sea region, proposing for it an European Union strategic approach, but notes that it comes with a certain delay and therefore calls for swift and decisive actions to implement it and to secure it with sufficient resources;
• stresses that although all countries in the region are bearing the negative consequences of military hostilities, targeted social and economic support has not been provided to all of them in proportion to their efforts and sacrifices;
• urges the Commission, in consultation with EU Member States, the countries in the Black Sea region and all stakeholders, to proceed rapidly, ideally by the end of 2025, with preparing a pragmatic and properly funded strategy for the development of the region;
• regrets that the previous EU framework policy (Black Sea Synergy from 2007) for the region was not covering the security dimension and underlines the need for the EU’s security initiatives in the Black Sea region to deliver tangible results;
• stresses that achieving a lasting peace is a necessary and essential pre-condition for sustainable economic development and notes with regret that this is not included as an objective in the document;
• finds the major constraint on the strategic approach is that it is based entirely on the existing financial instruments and budgetary resources included in the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027; requires the instruments to be simplified, consolidated and prioritised to produce an immediate and visible effect;
• recommends conducting an in-depth impact analysis of all the existing instruments to date and, on this basis, formulating more specific and clearer commitments regarding their use going forward;
• estimates that more attention should be devoted to tackling hybrid threats and governance malfunctions, which threaten to undermine regional stability.