Central and Eastern European Countries Shaping the EU’s Border Policy Towards the Post-Soviet Space Case Study : Kaliningrad

The European Union (EU)’s enlargements of 2004 and 2007 signified a project without precedent, the expansion to the East being a manifestation of the EU’s foreign policy. After gaining full membership, the new Central and Eastern European EU members also tried to shape the Union’s foreign policy, seeking to implement their preferences in the setting of the external policy making agenda of the Union. The aim of this article is to decipher the role of two of these “small” countries in shaping the EU’s border policy towards the post-Soviet space: the study analyses the role of Poland and Lithuania in shaping the Union’s border policy towards Kaliningrad, indirectly disclosing the EU-Russia relations. Special attention is paid to the current European regulation on a visa-free travel zone. This case study helps us not only to become familiar with the influence of the Central and Eastern European EU members on the EU’s border policy towards the post-Soviet space, but also reveals both the “hard” and “soft” practices used by the Union, trying to appease its exclusionary model of border practice with the need to establish an inclusionary approach based on cooperation with those residing outside the community borders