The EU Kaliningrad policy

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The Kaliningrad Oblast, a part of the Russian Federation, became an EU enclave following the EU's eastern enlargement in 2004. This inquiry explores the region's complex position within the EU from a legal and institutional perspective, rather than a geopolitical one. It challenges traditional views on the inclusion of third entities into the EU and aims to fill a gap in the academic literature regarding the EU's policy towards Kaliningrad. The study tests the hypothesis that Kaliningrad is somewhat integrated into the EU. Specifically, it evaluates the EU's Kaliningrad policy to determine if it can be classified as a policy of inclusion. The analysis considers various assumptions about the EU's "insides" and "outsides," the increasing flexibility of integration models, and the evolving nature of the EU's borders—geopolitical, institutional/legal, transactional, and cultural. A significant portion of the paper examines the bilateral political, legal, and institutional relationship between the EU and Russia, as well as Kaliningrad's legal capacity in international relations and its status as a Special Economic Zone under Russian federal policy. Ultimately, while the EU's approach to Kaliningrad does not clearly classify it as a policy of inclusion, it also rejects the notion of Kaliningrad as a definitive outsider.