ABSTRACT
This chapter elucidates Russia’s position with regard to the construction of a conFHQWULF(8RUGHULQQRUWKHUQ(XURSHWKDWZDVGLVFXVVHGLQ&KDSWHU7KH5XVVLDQ case will be portrayed in notably different terms from the accession of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as new semi-insiders into the Union. Similar semi-insider position is not available for Russia by means of EU accession in the short-or medium-term perspective. Rather, at issue is how Russia and its northwestern regions are situated and situate themselves along the third circle of the concentric (8RUGHU LHZLWKLQ WKHFRQ¿QHVRI WKHFORVHRXWVLGHUDQGVHPLRXWVLGHUSRVLtions. In other words, the question is whether Russia on the whole will remain a close outsider, unable to have a real share of EU integration whilst concomitantly being affected by the Union’s expansion, or slightly more integrationist positions will be in sight also for other regions of Russia than those in the country’s northwest, which has a direct geographical interface with the Union and access to the Union’s regionalizing policies and other cross-border cooperation with funding from the EU area. The more integrationist long-term prospects depend on progress within the EU-Russian strategic partnership and on the future development of regionalizing EU policies.
