In order to avoid duplication with already existing regional cooperation frameworks, including the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the Black Sea Forum (BSF), the Black Sea synergy will not be institutionalized. No additional funds are planned under this framework. It aims instead at coordinating different regional initiatives and EU policies in the region.

The EU is attempting to make sense of the new geopolitical realities in the Black Sea region including the “colour revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, NATO expansion in the region, Russia’s assertive position towards its “near abroad” and growing concerns over future EU energy supplies and Russia’s reliability as an energy partner. Most importantly, with the accession of the Black Sea littoral states Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in January 2007 and the launch of the pre-accession process with Turkey, the region is now closer to the EU.

The EU wants to coordinate three policies in the region: the enlargement process towards South-Eastern Europe and Turkey, the Strategic Partnership with Russia and bilateral aid and trade agreements with five countries in the region (Ukraine, Moldova and the three South Caucasian states) within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The Commission also intends to seek observer status in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), an organization of Black Sea littoral countries founded in 1992.

The Commission’s December proposal titled “Strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy” presents the Black Sea synergy as an attempt to add a regional dimension to the ENP following Bulgaria’s and Romania’s EU accessions in January 2007. The Black Sea synergy picks up on the “ ENP +” initiative, targeted at Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the three South Caucasus countries, which Germany is promoting during its EU presidency during the first half of 2007. The Commission acknowledges the necessity to establish special relationships with Eastern neighbours which are participating in the ENP and are concentrated in the Black Sea.

Energy cooperation as a prominent issue

Although the Black Sea synergy can only be welcomed as a significant EU attempt to assert its presence in the region and provide a solid foundation for various regional initiatives, it seems that the EU is once again only reacting to pre-existing realities, rather than anticipating change. The initiative appears more reactive than strategic.

Since the Rose Revolution, the Georgian government has been active in promoting the idea of a Black Sea dimension and has lobbied for Georgia to be integrated into a Black Sea dimension rather than into a South Caucasian space. In 2005 Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili launched the “Community of Democratic Choice” with his Ukrainian counterpart Victor Yushchenko. The regional organizations GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) and BSEC were established years ago.

The EU has been reluctant to support regional initiatives such as GUAM in the past, indirectly arguing that these initiatives had little substance, provided no added value and de facto alienated Russia. However, the prominence of the energy issue on the European agenda in 2006 has pushed the EU to become more pro-active, to claim a more strategic role in the Black Sea and to dispute a “piece of the pie” to Russia. Contrary to the Northern Dimension, the Black Sea initiative will be EU-dominated and will not put Moscow and Brussels on an equal footing.

Recent initiatives targeting the Eastern neighbourhood such as a European strategy for Central Asia and the “ENP +” have developed against growing concerns over the energy security and Russia’s reliability as an energy supplier. The Black Sea is a major energy transit zone and the EU wants to avoid seeing this space, where it has already developed various bilateral cooperation ties, slip under Russia's domination. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has made it clear that energy cooperation is at the heart of the new initiative.

An American strategy for the Black Sea

The EU is not the only actor that is beginning to think strategically about the Black Sea and trying to challenge Russia’s and Turkey’s traditional domination in the region. The US State Department has recently drafted a new strategy for the Black Sea that supports Ankara’s leadership in the region. Considering the region’s potential as a transit route for weapons of mass destruction, drugs and terrorists, the strategy focuses on security issues, including maritime surveillance and border security.

It is also an attempt to calm Turkey’s fears that NATO expansion in the region will minimize its influence. The United States wants to prevent Turkey from partnering with Russia in an effort to counterbalance Western involvement in the region. Despite Russian resistance, the BSEC recently accepted the United States as an observer.

The conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation published a report in December 2006 outlining American interests in the region and ways to further them. The region is deemed geopolitically significant “precisely because it is a nexus of cultures, international trade (both legal and illicit), ideas, and influences.” Outstanding issues of concern are energy, military security, terrorist challenges, and the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people.

The report recommends increased monitoring of the Black Sea space to promote the movement of certain goods such as energy goods, while preventing movement of unwanted or dangerous goods and people, referring to drugs, weapons of mass destruction and terrorists. An American and European strategic presence must be secured.

The EU’s strategy is somewhat more ambitious, as the EU wants to change its environment through democratic progress in the Black Sea countries, while basing security on the promotion of stability and prosperity. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has stated her hope that the initiative could also contribute to a better climate for the solution of the “frozen conflicts” in the region. Enhanced cooperation is expected to build confidence among the countries involved and accordingly the initiative calls for closer cooperation between the EU and the BSEC as well as ministerial meetings between the EU and Eastern ENP countries.

The Commission wants to stage a high political event to give visibility to the Black Sea synergy. Visibility will certainly be a major factor in the EU's success in asserting its new strategic role in the region.

The next step is for EU member states to adopt the initiative at the June EU Summit.