The biggest challenge will not be to devise new individual policies, but to strengthen the EU’s most powerful tool for dealing with Russia: unity. The EU has a basic choice to make: either member states continue to pursue bilateral agendas, but ultimately all lose out. Or it can unite – which will require individual member states to make possibly painful concessions – and exercise real influence over the nature of the relationship with Russia. In order to help achieve this level of unity, the EU could form pioneer groups of member states working out a common strategic.
