Influence of Central and Eastern European countries on EU’s foreign policy

The purpose of the study was to determine the nature and scale of the influence of the states of Central and Eastern Europe on the processes of forming and implementing the foreign policy course of the European Union, con- sidering current international challenges and crises. The paper provides a comparative analysis of the positions of the central and Eastern European countries on key foreign policy issues of the European Union, analyses official documents and statements, and analyses case studies of the main EU crises of recent years to assess the impact of these countries on the establishment of a common position of the Union. It was found that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have a significant but non-uniform influence on EU foreign policy. An analysis of the positions of CEE countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, the migration crisis, the war in Ukraine and the protests in Georgia revealed differences in their approaches and a certain divergence with the positions of the “old” members of the European Union. In particular, the Visegrad countries have demonstrated a tough stance on migration policy, while the Baltic States have taken a more moderate position. In contrast, there was greater unity in terms of relations with Russia and support for Ukraine, with the exception of Hungary. The study showed that the effectiveness of CEE countries’ influence is limited by internal issues, in particular issues of the rule of law and economic convergence. Despite this, these countries have made significant progress in promoting their interests in the areas of energy security and European neighbourhood policy, in particular through the Eastern Partnership Initiative. It was found that in order to strengthen their role in shaping EU foreign policy, CEE countries need to focus on strengthening regional cooperation, developing expertise on key issues and actively using EU tools, in particular, the enhanced cooperation mechanism. The results of the study show that the influence of CEE countries on EU foreign policy is a significant but ambiguous factor that requires further study, especially in the context of domestic political processes and economic interests of these countries