Becoming more "European" – in the wrong way

Journal of Turkish Weekly (JTW), 2014

Ukraine and the EU have relatively long and complicated history of mutual relations. Ukraine does benefi t a lot from the dynamic cooperation with the EU in general and its Member States in particular. The main object of Ukraine's aspiration on the way to European Integration last decades has been the Association Agreement. While it had been envisaged initially as a great success story, it came to seem to be a headache in the end. Having secured the signature of the Agreement after bloody and tragic events of 2014, Ukraine had to face an unprecedented political crisis and Russian military aggression. Crimea annexation and the war in Donbas made Ukraine's society and statehood vulnerable and threatened. On the one hand, EU support does help Ukraine to survive. On the other, the EU has certain claims against Ukrainian reforms and some aspects of its policy. Some issues concerning the EU's insuffi cient role as far as recent challenges are concerned are topical for domestic debate in Ukraine. They are about the consolidated position of the EU Member States regarding Russia's retro-imperial actions and plans, the capacity of the EU to withstand geopolitical pressure of insecurity etc. Moreover, lasting complications with visa-free regime for Ukrainians, Dutch dubious referenda on the Association Agreement, alongside with some emerging challenges of Ukrainian-Polish alliance made negative impact on the relations of Ukraine with the EU. They require reconsideration of the EU policy and politics as well as a thorough revision of the Eastern Partnership Program.

2015

This paper argues that the EU’s support to Ukraine’s transformation has made a difference, but that it must remain high on the agenda and that the EU needs to demonstrate more commitment to the process. The EU also needs to clearly define its interests in the region, including a vision for development of its long-term relations with Russia.

Stosunki Międzynarodowe, 2015

In November 2013, largely under the pressure of Russia, the Ukrainian authorities decided not to sign the association agreement with the European Union (EU). Such decision led to massive social protests in Ukraine, and ultimately to a major political crisis. In February the president Victor Yanukovych was overthrown. In counter-reaction the Russian Federation invaded the Ukrainian Crimea and launched a proxy war in the Eastern Ukraine. If the strength of the pro-European protests was an opportunity for the European Union, the recent developments in Ukraine has also pointed out some weaknesses of the EU policy towards its Eastern neighbourhood. First, EU has been unable to present an association offer which would be truly attractive and reliable for the postSoviet Ukraine in the period of deep economic crisis. Second, the Ukrainian crisis has shown that EU is unable to react quickly and decisively to challenges rising in its neighbourhood. Third, the European Union remains unwilling ...

2003

The borders of the European Union and Europe do not currently coincide, nor will they do so after the EU's next eastern enlargement. How will relations be after enlargement between the EU and countries to the East, the so-called Wider Europe? This group comprises Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus, the countries which have widely different aspirations visa -vis the Union. Largely owing to the challenges of deepening integration, internal reforms and enlargement, challenges presented by these countries have received limited attention from the EU, in a marked contrast to the Western Balkan countries. This ambivalence has left a country like Ukraine neglected, in spite of its persistent efforts in seeking closer ties with the Union. In 1996, the intention to join the EU was first voiced, and, in June 1998, a strategy on Ukraine's integration with the European Union was adopted, formally establishing Ukraine's membership of the EU as a long-term strategic goal. A more detailed programme for Ukraine's integration with the EU was adopted in September 2000. Since then Ukraine has repeatedly articulated its principal foreign policy objectivemembership of the European Union. The Union has so far been reluctant to acquiesce to this desire, considering the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which came into force in 1998 and which is due for renewal by 2008, as a sufficient and appropriate framework for future relations. Mindful also of the precedent set by relations with Turkey and experiencing enlargement 'overstretch', the EU has been I. Justification The Enlarged EU and Ukraine: New Relations

Ukraine's Long Road to European Integration PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 311 , 2014

Different presidents have come to power in Ukraine under different foreign policy slogans, but none have been able to conduct a coherent foreign policy. Moreover, at one time or another, each of them-Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Viktor Yanukovych-have issued formal declarations that state that European integration is Ukraine's strategic goal. However, the need to deal with Russian economic and informational warfare has created recurring challenges and stumbling blocks for Ukraine's leaders (as well as voters). We witnessed this trend once again in the leadup to the European Union's Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit in Vilnius in November 2013, when Yanukovych declined to sign the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement (AA). This caused massive pro-EU protests in Ukraine-the "Euromaidan," named after the main square in Ukraine's capital, the same place that had been the symbolic center of the 2004 Orange Revolution.

2010

Athenaeum Polskie Studia Politologiczne