New Europe Center presented the research on the third power’s influence and interests (China, Iran, Israel, etc.) in Eastern Partnership in general and Ukraine in particular («Third powers in Europe’s East»). The publication was prepared by the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS, France)

Stanislav Secrieru, Senior Analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, and Thomas S. Eder, Research Associate at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, presented the research.  Sergiy Korsunsky, Ambassador, Director of the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, and Igor Semyvolos, Executive director of the Association of Middle East Studies, took part in the discussion. NEC Deputy Director Kateryna Zarembo moderated the event.

Here are some key points of the presentation:

• The rise of third powers, particularly China, is taking place significantly in the last decade and quite naturally.
• The void that is created by the fact that traditional actors such as EU, US and Russia are leaving room for a greater involvement to third powers.
• The agri-food sector is the most powerful instrument that Ukraine could use in order to balance its relations (and trade) with third powers.
• Ukraine and Eastern Partnership countries are also interested to access new markets as these want to replace Russian market, which is often inaccessible because of political-driven economic embargos.
• Third powers pose a threat to the EU normative power by providing conditionality-free and corruption-ridden economic choices.
• There are also political and security reasons to engage with third powers. Sometimes, Ukraine might need their votes in UN institutions and vice versa. This has particular importance at times of crisis.