Is the EU-Central Asia Strategy Running Out of Steam? (CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies, 2011)
The European Union's Strategy for a New Partnership with Central Asia is approaching its fourth year of implementation. In that time the EU has placed its relationship with Central Asia on a more structured footing through the establishment of several formal initiatives designed to support seven engagement priorities in the region. The EU Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) has allocated €321 million to support the Strategy between 2011 and 2013. Direct contacts between European officials and political leaders from the region, conducted in both Europe and Central Asia, are at unprecedented levels. Although progress has been made in building dialogue and in furthering engagement in certain defined areas, the limitations of the strategy are increasingly obvious