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Focusing on the case of the EU-Armenia cooperation on the rule of law and judicial reform, this study contributes to the EaP performance assessment based on the five-element conceptual framework developed by Baltag and Romanyshyn (Int Polit, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-023-00475-3). To trace the behaviour of the policy in the context of recent internal and external challenges and characterise its acceptance by multiple stakeholders, two assessment criteria from the conceptual framework were chosen for evaluation: policy relevance and resilience. It is argued that regardless of the significantly increased level of EaP resilience in the period of the EU-Armenia CEPA conclusion and high relevance of the promoted RoL reform in legal and political domains, its low practical relevance led to the policy's underperformance. The transition of power in 2018 strengthened the practical relevance of the RoL reforms and the level of EaP resilience allowed the EU to respond to this change. However, the existence of contestations from inside and outside of the judicial system is still to be addressed in the policy design. Finally, it is suggested that in the progressively complex geopolitical environment, more flexible and adaptable foreign policy can increase the perceived relevance of the EU as a regional actor thus contributing to better EaP performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the theoretical and empirical challenges of assessing performance of the EU's Eastern Partnership policy with a special focus on the future of the policy amidst Russia's war against Ukraine. Based on the contributions to the respective Special Issue the concluding article discusses contemporary developments at the crossroads between EU Studies and the studies of performance, the multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to performance assessment in European Studies, as well as state-of-the-art of the EU's performance in six Eastern Partnership countries. It also dedicates much attention to the implications the policy's performance so far and available evidence about it will have for the reinvention of the Eastern Partnership in the new geopolitical constellations, shaped by Russia's war against Ukraine and the EU's response thereto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the performance of EU policy towards Belarus, the effectiveness of the EU's "critical engagement" with the regime in 2014–2020 and the EU's response to the Belarusian crisis. It makes several points. First, the EU policy showed low effectiveness due to a duality of goals and a disjuncture with the structural conditions in Belarus. Second, EU's engagement with the regime was instrumental for the sustainment of the regime's model and allowed to invest additional resources in cooptation, repression and legitimization. This further delayed necessary political and economic changes in the country and made sure that the elite remained loyal Lukashenka. Furthermore, the regime-centredness of the EU policy isolated the EU from the domestic drivers of change. The EU's prioritization of ties with the regime allowed the latter to limit and control the EU interaction with the Belarusian society, which backfired during the protest mobilization. Finally, the EU showed limited capacity to learn from its mistakes and act in an agile way. Only Lukashenka's participation in the Russian war against Ukraine in 2022 removed existing policy ambiguities, yet slow and ill-born attempts to create a new policy towards Lukashenka persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to assess the involvement of Azerbaijan in the Eastern Partnership initiative since 2009. Despite the official ambitions, there has been only limited policy performance since. Using the framework of the special issue, this paper will try to understand to what extent regime type has affected the Eastern Partnership's performance. The conceptual focus will be on three dimensions of performance measurement, namely relevance, cohesion, and effectiveness, since these are the areas where the potential agency of the Azerbaijani government can be most visible. The analysis will focus on the policy objectives that were set for Azerbaijan, including political association and economic integration; enhanced mobility in a secure environment; and sectoral cooperation. Concretely, the paper finds that the Eastern Partnership's limited performance in relations with Azerbaijan can be seen as inevitable from the start, due to the differing policy expectations and commitment of authoritarian regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How the EU interacts with its Eastern neighbours has been researched extensively. How it has performed in this region however has been systemically researched on far fewer occasions. This gap is even more glaring when straying away from policy areas such as trade, rule of law, or democratisation. More than 10 years after the Eastern Partnership's inauguration, this paper therefore investigates the performance of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, with a specific focus on its endogenous rural development programme LEADER in Georgia. It finds a mixed picture for the performance attributes relevance, effectiveness, and impact, with differences in performance found between policy instruments and between actors on the local and state level. Therefore, it suggests analysing performance not only across its constituent attributes, but also with a view to specific policy instruments and actors beyond the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polazeći od pozitivnog iskustva uključivanja osnovnih načela Kopenhaških pristupnih kriterijuma (1993) na postkomunističku političku i ekonomsku demokratizaciju u prostoru srednje-istočne i baltičke Evrope, Ijan Maners je odredio ‘evropsku normativnu moć’ kao sposobnost Evropske unije da širi svoj međunarodni uticaj putem normi, pre nego putem političke moći svojih država-članica. Autor navodi da je, od početka ispoljavanja zamora za proširenjem sredinom 2000-ih, relevantnost evropske normativne moći u opadanju, te da je realpolitika ponovo postala osnovni faktor odlučivanja u spoljnoj politici Evropske unije. U nedostatku jasnih izgleda za pristupanje Evropskoj uniji, brojne političke inicijative vezane za stabilnost i bezbednost Zapadnog Balkana (ZB) ostale su bez većih rezultata. Autor zaključuje da je naglo ‘uvećanje’ procesa proširenja nakon ruske invazije na Ukrajinu (i to na zemlje koje su u manjoj meri nego ZB ispunjavale norme i standarde članstva u EU) dodatno potkopalo evropsku normativnu moć u korist (slabe) političke moći i realpolitike u odnosu s tim zemljama. takav pristup nema dobru perspektivu da obezbedi regionalnu stabilnost, efikasno promoviše mir i demokratiju, niti pruži mapu puta ka članstvu u EU.

Moldova’s aspiration to join the European Union is on the rise, but at the same time the extremist parties in member states are gaining support. Given that the EU’s enlargement policy is contested by extremists, and that a state’s accession also depends on the vote of its current members, we analyze trends in French political discourse regarding the association agreements, EU enlargement and the Republic of Moldova.

This paper analyzes the evolution and impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the economies of the Eastern Partnership countries of the European Union, with a special focus on the Republic of Moldova. The study highlights Moldova's lagging FDI inflows compared to its regional counterparts due to a slower transition to a market economy, political instability, and dependence on Russia. While Moldova has made progress in attracting investments from the European Union, particularly after signing the Association Agreement in 2014, Russia remains a significant source of FDI for the period of 1991-2019. Key industries, including energy, automotive, and financial services, benefit from these investments, though Moldova's reliance on a narrow set of countries poses challenges. The paper also examines the role of privatization in shaping Moldova's FDI landscape and discusses how political and economic events such as the 2014 banking scandal and geopolitical tensions in Ukraine influenced FDI patterns. The findings suggest that while Moldova's FDI stock has grown, it remains vulnerable to external shocks and heavily influenced by regional dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU relations with its eastern neighbours have been pursued with the goal of building a 'ring of friends' contributing towards security and stability-building, through reforms' implementation and the development of closer relations. This transformative agenda met, however, some criticism and resistance from Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 changed profoundly the setting for these relations, including the accession requests coming from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, along with the cut off of relations with Russia and Belarus. The implied debordering and rebordering dynamics taking place show the complexity of material and symbolic bordering practices. Through a critical border studies approach, this paper seeks to unpack these bordering dynamics and how they are reconfiguring the European space, arguing the EU has become locus of resistance for countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia assuring their European identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates energy regionalism in wider Europe, examining extra-regional and intra-regional challenges. In recent years, the European Union (EU) has taken concrete steps to enhance its energy security and reduce its dependence on Russia. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has further highlighted the critical dimension of the energy crisis between Russia and the EU. This study emphasizes the vital role of sub-regional energy dynamics in regional policy formulation and criticizes the EU's regional approach. In this realm, the article assesses the EU's Eastern Partnership through the Caucasus Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and the Northeast Europe Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus). Thus, countries' recent initiatives will be investigated to demonstrate how they cope with issues of energy security. In the end, the article underlines the necessity for the adoption of tailor-made sub-regional energy policies by the EU. For Northeast Europe Eastern Partnership countries, the EU needs to support energy market liberalization and stability, invest in critical infrastructural developments, foster effective dispute resolution mechanisms, and maintain transparent transit conditions. For Caucasus Eastern Partnership countries, the EU needs to facilitate multilateral energy cooperation and dialogue, promote energy market liberalization, and facilitate energy interconnection. In short, strong political leadership and continuous efforts to foster collaboration and interconnectivity in wider Europe are necessary to enhance energy security.

The objective of this study is to investigate the development of Moldova-EU relations in the framework of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the post-Soviet period and to examine the role of Russia in this process. The article asserts that because of such reasons as Moldova’s poverty, the frozen Transnistria conflict, the impact of Russia, the importance attached by the EU to the enlargement towards Eastern Europe and EU’s emphasis on the integration process, Moldova was not a country, with which the EU has aimed to integrate primarily. Therefore, EU-Moldova relations progressed slowly particularly up until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Another thesis of the article is that owing to historical, social, cultural, political, economic and military reasons, Russia has always had a certain influence in Moldova. However, the more EU-Moldova relations intensified, the more Moldova moved away from the Russian orbit. Furthermore, the study maintains that while the EU emphasized traditionally such values as democracy, rule of law and human rights regarding its stance on enlargement, it prioritized geo-strategy in its approach as regards enlargement following the Russian assault on Ukraine in 2022. This, as a result, has paved the way for Moldova’s membership to the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at how the Russian invasion has reshaped the EU's Eastern neighbourhood policy and subsequently how has the new policy affected the strategies of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. We systematically review policy responses to the war of the EU and the countries of the EU-Russia contested neighbourhood and identify new patterns in foreign policy behavior of these states and key domestic policy changes. We specifically highlight the shift in two key attributes of the EU's foreign policy, which has traditionally defined its neighbourhood policy: its relations with Russia and the inclusiveness of the EaP countries in the European project. We make two arguments: first, the crisis and new risks in the region has created a demand and opened a geopolitical dimension to the EU neighbourhood policy, which required Brussels to fill a hard security vacuum in its own policies in the neighbourhood, which invoked an application of new instruments to deter Moscow and support EU's Eastern allies. Second, the crisis contributes to even faster erosion of the post-Soviet space and a new regional fragmentation along geopolitical lines. Finally, the question of sustainability of these changes and their effect on the EU as an actor remains open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's Eastern enlargement in 2004 was marked by the entry of mostly smaller states, whose ability to shape the external direction of the EU was questioned. However, the EU's response to the war in Ukraine has shown how important the Eastern dimension of external policy is for the EU and that this Easternisation of the EU has occurred precisely in the wake of the 2004 enlargement. This is due to the fact that these states have been able to push their own narratives in the discourse on the EU's Eastern direction, particularly in the case of the Eastern Partnership. This article analyses the discourse of Central and Eastern European states regarding the Eastern partnership, specifically the narratives of the official documents of three Baltic and four Visegrad group countries in the 2009-2022 period. The analysis made it possible to identify narrative structures and showed that the narratives are relatively similar in the selected countries. Despite the lack of cooperation between the two groups and the West's neglect of the Eastern Partnership policy, they were able to individually strengthen their position in the EU and maintain the discussion about the Eastern Partnership at the EU level as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Moldova's prospective membership in the European Union (EU) in the wake of the EU's renewed enlargement drive which was prompted by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It explores the dynamics shaping Moldova's accession path, spotlighting obstacles to integration that official reports appear to overlook or underplay. The article compares EU and Moldovan documents, civil society reports, and insights from interviews with Moldovan officials and civil society representatives to gain a nuanced picture of the evolving situation. Attention is also given to the distinct characteristics of the currently unfolding enlargement process, including its sense of urgency and geopolitical significance which have led to calls for an expedited or 'fasttrack' accession. Findings note that despite Moldova's impressive progress in aligning with EU standards in many areas, substantial hurdles in justice reform, combating corruption and de-oligarchisation persist. Incomplete public administration reforms, uneven civil society involvement in decision-making, and issues associated with the Transnistria conflict also have consequences for Moldova's EU prospects, especially if an expedited version of enlargement occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopts a realist approach to explore how geopolitical factors influence the European Union’s (EU) decision to expand into neighbouring regions of strategic importance or vulnerability to major powers’ influence. It specifically examines the obstacles posed by the absence of a unanimous stance on „pre-scheduled” accessions, as seen in the earlier „eastern enlargement” rounds. It is argued that the present geopoliticized EU enlargement policy seems to be guided by realist factors, although it is characterized by an incongruity between strategic rhetoric and strategic actions. This inconsistency between expressed intentions and actual measures is more evident in the Western Balkans than in the Eastern neighbourhood. Through the selected, broadly set realist elements – groupism, egoism and power-centrism – the EU’s foreign policy strategy and behaviour are examined, searching for a gap between the discursive and practical domains in both regions. The research considers that the EU’s response has not predominantly been strategic but rather tactical, reflecting the enlargement policy’s longstanding deficiencies, coupled with the urgent need to extend commitments to the eastern partners facing immediate security threats. Such tendencies are disadvantageous for the Western Balkans, which became a lower priority for the EU despite its chronological precedence in the enlargement domain. While ideally, both enlargement regions should be granted an „accession timetable” along with on-ground democratic reforms, the authors highlight that due to differing geopolitical dynamics and pressure, the outcomes for the two regions may either diverge in terms of potential favouring of the new candidates or, perhaps more likely, converge – meaning that the accession of either region might be postponed once the geopolitical urgency subsides.

Year 2022 brought increasing uncertainty and new challenges around the world, including in the European Union (EU), mainly related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its direct and indirect effects for all EU Member States. Europe finds itself in a difficult situation which provokes reflection on the current shape of the EU’s security policy and the need to rethink and structure its stipulations. Faced with Russian aggression against Ukraine, the EU has implemented a number of new foreign policy initiatives and measures to support both the economy of Ukraine and of its member states. This article explores the issue of EU and Ukrainian economic security in the context of the financial and economic intervention measures taken by the Union to maintain sustainable development in the region. The EU support is helping Ukraine to survive, while on the other hand the EU has certain demands regarding Ukrainian reforms and certain aspects of its policies. These sensitive issues regarding the inadequacy of the EU’s role in relation to recent challenges are topical in the debate in Ukraine.

The strategy of power games and peaceful diplomacy in the media and new media age are essential in defining the rules and values of the global political system. Soft power becomes a key tool for strengthening the global position and promoting the positive image of states at the international level. This study explores the concept of soft power and highlights the importance of the Erasmus+ Program in EU diplomacy. Erasmus+ facilitates international cooperation in education, culture and European values, thereby influencing global policy. Through this program, the EU can promote dialogue, pluralism and democracy, having a significant impact on the enlargement process of the European Union and on international relations in the regions of the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans. In the course of this article, we will analyze the objectives and the implementation methods of the Erasmus+ Program in the regions of the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans, in order to show that this is an effective soft power tool of the European Union.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine at the end of February 2022, which escalated into the Russian-Ukrainian war, led to significant changes in contemporary international relations. This article explores how the war changed the European Union and Russia’s relationship and affected the Eastern Partnership’s dynamics. The goal is to contribute to the ongoing dialogues about the complexity of the conflict and its profound implications for regional security and stability through the afore-mentioned aspects of the analysis. The main findings indicate that the events in Ukraine triggered in 2014 created a more complex security environment, significantly changing the previous dynamics of EU-Russia relations and increasing tensions. Tension culminated after Vladimir Putin’s bold proposals from December 2021, presented as a kind of ultimatum that should have ensured Russia a fair place in the new European security architecture, were left without a response from the West. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, in an effort to achieve security and broader European stability, there was a need for a redesign and change of focus in the European security architecture. However, not in the way that Russia demanded. Furthermore, the Ukraine crisis and Russia’s subsequent attack on the country have raised concerns among the EU’s eastern neighbours about their security and sovereignty. That is why, despite the challenges of implementing political and economic reforms, these countries received increased support from the EU through the Eastern Partnership. Moreover, although the previous forms of cooperation did not provide a possibility for the membership of these countries in the EU, Ukraine and Moldova also received the status of membership candidates. The war in Ukraine also highlighted the limits of the EU’s normative power, underscoring the importance of hard power, further enhancing defence cooperation at the EU level, and cooperation with NATO as a collective defence mechanism. Thus, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has had a profound and lasting impact on the security dynamics of Europe, reshaping the interactions of key regional actors. Russia-Ukraine war, EU-Russia relations, Eastern Partnership

The EU’s Eastern enlargement in 2004 was marked by the entry of mostly smaller states, whose ability to shape the external direction of the EU was questioned. However, the EU’s response to the war in Ukraine has shown how important the Eastern dimension of external policy is for the EU and that this Easternisation of the EU has occurred precisely in the wake of the 2004 enlargement. This is due to the fact that these states have been able to push their own narratives in the discourse on the EU’s Eastern direction, particularly in the case of the Eastern Partnership. This article analyses the discourse of Central and Eastern European states regarding the Eastern partnership, specifically the narratives of the official documents of three Baltic and four Visegrad group countries in the 2009–2022 period. The analysis made it possible to identify narrative structures and showed that the narratives are relatively similar in the selected countries. Despite the lack of cooperation between the two groups and the West’s neglect of the Eastern Partnership policy, they were able to individually strengthen their position in the EU and maintain the discussion about the Eastern Partnership at the EU level as a result.

The aim of this article is a political-geographical analysis of political and economic relations between the Slovak Republic and the countries of the world from 1993 to 2019. We spatially analyze more than 15,000 trips of Slovak government officials to countries around the world and their relation to foreign trade. Using the statistical method of correlation, we examine the degree of relationship between trade indicators and political interactions (represented by government visits) in more than 150 countries around the world. We cartographically define spatial concentration, especially the high direct correlation between trade and trips, and examine the factors and causes of this correlation on the example of selected countries with significant values. The countries of the Eastern Partnership, the Middle East, the Western Balkans, and East Asia have the highest correlation coefficients. Our article seeks to contribute to the discussion on the effectiveness of economic diplomacy using geographical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ankara Review of European Studies (ARES) / Ankara Avrupa Çalışmaları Dergisi (AAÇD) is the property of Ankara University European Union Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article examines the changing relations between Ukraine and the European Union in light of the increased EU backing of Ukraine after the Russian invasion. It argues that Ukraine's steadfast pro-EU stance has intensified in response to many challenges caused by Russian actions in that country, resulting in a noteworthy increase in legal backing from the EU. The qualitative research method is used to explore the EU-Ukraine relationship through historical context, official documents, and expert analysis. It starts by setting the historical background of Ukraine's ties with the EU, highlighting the key documents and events, and tracking the advancement of Ukraine's pro-European stance. The main emphasis is on how the Russian actions in Ukraine, starting with the annexation of Crimea, backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine, and finally, the invasion, changed relations between the EU and Ukraine. This entails estimating how Ukraine's adherence to EU values and legal standards has changed in response to Russia's gradually intensifying actions in Ukraine. Also, it involves an analysis of varied aspects of the EU's assistance mechanisms and tools used by the EU to strengthen its backing for Ukraine, emphasising the reciprocal nature of their legal dynamics. The article concludes by examining Ukraine's path towards EU membership and the criteria and legal requirements that Ukraine has to meet. This provides insights into the legal dynamics shaping EU-Ukraine relations in the context of intense external pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) is making strong inroads into areas of security traditionally reserved to states. Security concerns are increasingly triggered by fundamental challenges, such as terrorism, climate change, migration, and many other 'soft security issues'. Resilience has become a term of reference in the EU's official foreign policy discourse, triggering an associated 'resilience. Our contribution aims to analyse the 'many faces of resilience' in the EU's Eastern Partnership (EaP) in relation to how the EU understands and seeks to enhance European security, mapping the different meanings the terms assume in the EU's discourses and policy practices, and how they are related to one another. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has largely been viewed as an extraordinary resilience test for the EU and has brought back fundamental concerns on European security, including 'hard' military security issues. This has in turn raised questions not only on how the EU can ensure the resilience of its eastern partners and of itself, but also on the EU's role in a rapidly changing global context of polarisation and fragmentation. In light of these challenges, the contributions to this special issue have only increased in relevance, pointing to pathways and opportunities for how the EU may reconcile the contradictory demands of fostering security and resilience for states and societies alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyse security within Europe's Eastern Partnership as perceived from the outside – notably by Russia. It analyses the impact of Russia's security on European security thinking in its Eastern Partnership through the lens of ontological security. Russia's relationship with the West, based on its ontological security fears, is characterised by the collective trauma and stigma of USSR disintegration. Europe's ontological security anxiety and fear in its relationship with Russia is caused by the wars in Georgia and Ukraine, as well as Russia's hybrid warfare. The ontological security interaction in the Eastern Neighbourhood has had two effects: (1) it heightened Putin's emphasis on the protection of spiritual, cultural and national identity and how the stigma of territorial loss plays a strategic role on the ability to build Russian collective identity reflexively; and (2) Russia has aimed at a re-construction of Europe along different geopolitical lines, whereby Dugin's Eurasian views have shaped Putin's discourse. This article analyses the EU's policy and practices following the war in Ukraine (in two phases in 2014 and 2022) in the Eastern Neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article maps and analyses the different meanings of the EU's resilience narratives in its neighbourhood policy towards authoritarian regimes. While a large part of the existing literature has placed an emphasis on the role of resilience in EU foreign policy more generally, the specific use and representations of resilience in EU policy towards authoritarian regimes remains ill-explored. However, it is specifically in the context of the EU's relations with authoritarian regimes, that references to resilience, and especially 'state resilience', are highly problematic. Focusing on the EU's neighbourhood policy and the case of Belarus, we present a discourse analysis of the different uses of the term resilience in the official discourses of key EU institutions. In a first-order critique, we examine how the EU's narratives construct resilience, and in particular for whom, what, when, where, and why. We show that the EU's resilience discourses are inherently state-centric and present highly contradictory goals of resilience-building. In a second-order critique, we demonstrate the problematic political implications of the EU's usage of the term resilience, including the omission of 'everyday forms of resilience and resistance' from the EU's narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary societies are closely interconnected by transnational networks and flows (of people, goods, energy, information, money), which is a source of both opportunities and vulnerabilities. Connections and networks thrive in a liberal, norms-based environment. However, they are also imbued with power politics and geopolitical rivalry over who controls vital connections. The direction, density and quality of the connections of states to their external environment have important implications for their international position, security, and welfare. It is thus highly relevant that connectivity has been singled out as one of the key priorities of the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The article explores how the EU has developed connectivity with EaP countries, given the growing contestation between liberal and illiberal approaches to connectivity in the region. It discusses the linkages of connectivity to power, security, and resilience. It looks at examples in particular in the case of Ukraine and seeks to assess their implications for Ukraine's security and geopolitical position, and hence for European security more broadly. It argues that, in order to improve Ukraine's resilience and reduce vulnerability, it is important to connect the country better to European infrastructure and strengthen physical links such as roads, energy connections, and flows of trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article maps out how domestic scope conditions in Moldova have influenced and shaped the emergence of resilience in EU-Moldova relations and the implementation of EU resilience-building during the period 2014–2020. Drawing on scholarly works addressing the 'resilience turn' in the study of European foreign policy, this article argues that EU external action towards Moldova post-2014 is marked by (i) a narrow and minimalist conception of resilience-building in so far as it revolved almost exclusively around EU demands for anti-corruption measures and the de-politicisation of the Moldovan judiciary, (ii) the responsibilization of local elites to pursue corresponding reforms, and (iii) the absence of a clear-cut resilience-building strategy for Moldova. It is suggested that the EU pursued a wavering course, made itself dependent on ruling elites, committed several U-turns and neglected the empowerment of local, non-governmental actors in making Moldova more resilient and free of corruption and oligarchic interests. The article demonstrates that EU resilience-building attempts in Moldova between 2014 and 2020 were a function of domestic scope conditions and the extent to which governing elites' reform rhetoric was perceived as credible by EU stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Political Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the European Union's role as a promoter of democracy in the countries participating in the EU's Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative. Particular attention is paid to those tools used by the EU to promote democracy in the specified countries, namely: political and diplomatic actions, election observation, international cooperation, EU development assistance for effective governance and civil society, sanctions, various platforms and democracy support funds, and financial support. In order to assess the state of democracy in the countries of the EaP, a number of indices were considered, namely: the Freedom House Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index and the Eastern Partnership Integration Index to clarify the correlation between the integration processes of Eastern Partnership countries and the effectiveness of reforms. In addition, the authors used the data of the Normandy Index for 2019-2023, which captures, among others, the state of democratic processes. The research hypothesis states that EU's influence on the countries of the Eastern Partnership in terms of democratisation is not always effective, due to both exogenous and endogenous factors. The mechanisms applied by the EU should complement/intensify the internal transformations of the EaP countries that foster democratisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the critical role of higher education reforms in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries since their independence as they endeavor to align their systems with European standards and norms, ultimately seeking closer integration with the European Union (EU). The EaP countries, comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, have embarked on ambitious journeys of transformation in their higher education sectors to foster economic development, enhance academic excellence, and strengthen regional cooperation. The article employs a comprehensive approach, encompassing both policy analysis and empirical insights to shed light on the multifaceted nature of higher education reforms across the region. It delves into the various challenges and opportunities faced by the EaP countries in their pursuit of European integration through higher education reforms. The key themes explored include the alignment of the national higher education reforms with the Bologna Declaration guidelines including the promotion of internationalization and quality assurance mechanisms emphasizing the importance of crossborder collaboration and knowledge exchange. It critically assesses the progress made so far, highlighting successes and identifying persistent obstacles. Moreover, it examines the role of international organizations and the EU programs in supporting these reforms. The analysis highlights the importance of higher education reforms in the EaP region not only as an instrument for achieving European integration but also as a catalyst for broader societal and economic transformations. The research data collected refer to the period of 1991-2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article conducts a scientific and practical study of the organizational and legal issues of the integration of the transport system of Ukraine into both European and world transport systems with the aim of forming and further developing a single trans-European transport network. The international documents of the European Union and the national legislation of Ukraine in the international transport sphere were analyzed in order to identify problematic issues, search for effective organizational and legal mechanisms for their solution and priority forms of cooperation in this sphere. Іt was revealed that the main concepts, ways to achieve the goal and even specific actions regarding the creation of a modern transport network are outlined in the strategy of the European Commission "Transport - 2050: road map for the formation of the Single European transport space - on the way to a competitive and resource-efficient transport system" - " White book - 2011". One of the main goals of cooperation in accordance with the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand, was specified, and its content was formed. It was emphasized that the situation with European integration in the international transport sphere remains difficult and this is a negative phenomenon and a joint responsibility of the Government and the Parliament regarding the obligations of Ukraine's implementation of mandatory and directly related regulations and directives of the European Union. The necessary steps for the implementation of the organizational and legal mechanism of European integration processes regarding the liberalization of international transportation and the development of the international transport sphere with the European Union and its member states are proposed, which can be the conclusion of bilateral agreements between Ukraine and the European Union on the simplification of the permit system between Ukraine and the member states of the European Union. of the Union for transit transportation by transport, making appropriate changes to already existing bilateral agreements regarding the conditions of transit transportation of goods between Ukraine and the member states of the European Union, in general, resolving issues regarding the obligations of implementing the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other hand, in the field of infrastructure, acceleration of the stages of reform in Ukraine within the framework of the implementation of the Association Agreement, in particular, the approval by the parliament of European integration bills in the field of transport infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries in the European Union's neighborhood, such as those in the Eastern Partnership (EaP), have a particular interest in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) because investment inflows can guarantee them a number of advantages needed for accession. This paper proposes a comparative analysis of the investment attractiveness of the EaP countries in the period 2005-2019 considering the institutional theory of FDI inflows. The research methodology considers a quantitative approach that uses the composite index as a tool. The results show that half of the EaP countries have a high level of investment attractiveness, while the institutional quality has an important influence on attracting FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the foundation of the European Communities during the 1950s, enlargement of these organisations has been an important goal, as well as, in some cases, a challenge to the existing legal and political paradigm. In this article we set out to present the evolution of the accession process and the particularities present in specific cases, specifically those of the countries forming what is called the Eastern Neighbourhood, in order to evaluate Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia’s likelihood of becoming a fully-fledged member of the European Union, and the probable timeline.

Countries in the European Union’s neighborhood, such as those in the Eastern Partnership (EaP), have a particular interest in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) because investment inflows can guarantee them a number of advantages needed for accession. This paper proposes a comparative analysis of the investment attractiveness of the EaP countries in the period 2005–2019 considering the institutional theory of FDI inflows. The research methodology considers a quantitative approach that uses the composite index as a tool. The results show that half of the EaP countries have a high level of investment attractiveness, while the institutional quality has an important influence on attracting FDI. First published online 09 January 2024

Year 2022 brought increasing uncertainty and new challenges around the world, including in the European Union (EU), mainly related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its direct and indirect effects for all EU Member States. Europe finds itself in a difficult situation which provokes reflection on the current shape of the EU's security policy and the need to rethink and structure its stipulations. Faced with Russian aggression against Ukraine, the EU has implemented a number of new foreign policy initiatives and measures to support both the economy of Ukraine and of its member states. This article explores the issue of EU and Ukrainian economic security in the context of the financial and economic intervention measures taken by the Union to maintain sustainable development in the region. The EU support is helping Ukraine to survive, while on the other hand the EU has certain demands regarding Ukrainian reforms and certain aspects of its policies. These sensitive issues regarding the inadequacy of the EU's role in relation to recent challenges are topical in the debate in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the evolution of the European Union's (EU) and Russian Federation's discourse on the Eastern Partnership (EaP) along four frames – economic, (geo)political, normative, and security. We discover the dynamic of the EaP discourse in Brussels and Moscow, developing from an economic and political initiative to an adversarial security understanding, underpinned by logics of geopolitical and normative competition. With this study, we illuminate the misalignment of the EU and Russia's interpretations of neighbourhood policy and show how it underpinned mutual mistrust and the clash over the future of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small hydropower plants (SHPs) are posing a significant risk to the environment in Europe, whilst their contribution to the energy sector is rather low. This article is examining civil society organisations (CSOs) lobbying activity, during 2017–2018, on opposing the construction of SHPs in Ukraine and Moldova. It is argued that CSOs framed their cause as a legal issue, and not just as an environmental one, aiming at amplifying their persuasive power. First, it is analysed how CSOs framed their cause when interacting with citizens and media, and second, with international organisations. Framing is systematically studied based on media content analysis in both countries and on reports published by CSOs within the Eastern Partnership framework. The findings contribute to a better understanding of framing, by bridging the literature on social movement and transnational climate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new EU global strategy is being formed, as opposed to the European Security Strategy, which no longer corresponds to the geopolitical environment. In accordance with the evolution of security threats at the basis of the Global Strategy, the trends of ensuring unity within the EU and its global leadership, as well as strengthening the EU’s defence capabilities and changing its security approaches are now becoming of vital importance. It is the security structural transformations that currently pose the task of geopolitical repositioning to international actors in the global security system. In the conditions of such restructuring, the role of the EU in resolving international conflicts is given a special place. It is obvious that its classic approaches to conflict resolution have lost their perspective.

The main purpose of the paper is to analyse the role of the European Parliament (EP) in the reconsideration of the EU eastern policy in the light of Russian full-scale military aggression against Ukraine. With the view to reaching the stated objective, the following research tasks are taken into consideration. First, particular attention is paid to the change of the EP approach toward the issue of eastern policy building in the aftermath of the 2019 elections and after the 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In order to define the transformative potential of the EP in the institutional system of the European Union (EU) as regards the eastern dimension of its neighbourhood policy, the analysis covers selected resolutions and recommendations as well as key political addresses delivered by leaders of the EP, European Council and European Commission. Second, the study presents the context of the foreign policy structural competition between the EU and Russia putting particular emphasis on the role of institutions mentioned above in the process of foreign policy-making and on the nature of the EU support for the democratisation processes in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region before the 24 February 2022. Finally, there is made an attempt to evaluate the steps undertaken by the EP in order to reform the EU eastern policy and enhance support for the Europeanisation processes in partner states aimed at democratic transformation of the region.

Contestation remains a significant factor in the EU neighbourhood. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the role of external actors – namely the European Union and the Russian Federation – in managing local and regional contestation. The latter is defined as incompatibilities between two or more competing views about how political, economic, social, and territorial order should be established and/or sustained. Competing interests between the EU and Russia concern many issues; the model of political system in the neighbourhood (democracy vs. authoritarianism), the model and direction of the economic integration of these countries (European or Eurasia integration), and the infrastructure and availability of gas and oil (energy disputes). The common neighbourhood, which concerns EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine), has become an area of rivalry rather than cooperation between the EU and Russia. The first seeks to stabilise the post-Soviet area, while Russia exploits local destabilisations and conflicts to maintain its influence there.

The European Union's (EU) mission to promote its idea of European-ness across the continent led to its eastern enlargements and later the Eastern Partnership of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Along the way, this mission encountered competing norms and regional integration efforts shaped by sociocultural and historical ties connecting state, society and territory. These ties inform the barriers to Europeanisation and the backsliding from EU-managed policy reforms. They can illuminate where the EU's self-image and constructed European identity do not reflect perspectives abroad or those of EU member countries. Such inconsistencies in the EU-constructed identity that shaped related policy mechanisms prevented sustainable regional transformation and integration. Further policy integration and future EU enlargement remain strong possibilities, as does the risk of basing the next generation of policy mechanisms on a distorted image of the EU and its capacity to transform. In this article, I apply a novel critical theory perspective on the entwined processes of de- and reterritorialisation to this context, and argue that this perspective clarifies and informs the EU's aim to transform and unite Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ukraine, the challenges and threats to the efficient functioning of the transportation industry are intensifying during the war and infrastructure destruction. The need for emergency repairs of the ruined infrastructure hinders the reform of the Ukrainian transportation industry. Furthermore, developing an integrated EU-oriented multimodal transportation system within the "Eastern Partnership" regional network becomes more complicated. This article aims to identify the problems of efficiency and competitiveness of the Ukrainian transportation industry in the context of integration into the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and the construction of a multimodal transportation system. The research employs a systemic analysis methodology to assess the structural indicators of Ukraine's transportation system development. The structure of Ukrainian freight transportation by mode is compared with that in EU countries to reflect differences in a modal split in the context of Ukraine's accession to TEN-T. The results demonstrate a range of problems related to the competitiveness of the Ukrainian transportation industry, which act as barriers to its integration with TEN-T. Institutional, political, and managerial-administrative problems are identified as the leading issues associated with inefficient data collection and processing, management and control functions, decision-making, communication, and interaction among governing bodies. A separate group of issues in Ukraine's transportation industry is linked to the material-technical condition of various types of transportation infrastructure, which affects service quality. Consequently, other problems arise, including the low level of development of intermodal and multimodal transport, transportation logistics, decreased efficiency in capacity utilization, insufficient level of competition in the market for transportation services, and non-compliance with European requirements for access to the transportation services market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the case of Georgia, this article seeks to understand better how the EU's partners adjust to the uncertainty of the EU's offer as part of the Eastern Partnership, and how their identification narratives evolve in response to this indeterminacy. We use the concept of liminality to capture the imprecision of the EU's offer and the state of in-betweenness of the EU's associated partners. Through an analysis of Georgia's identification practices, we then shed light on how Georgian elites have pushed for an identity-driven self-representation as a key political strategy vis-à-vis the EU. We argue that such repositioning and, more recently, the tactical use of the Association Trio reflect Georgia's approach to developing its agency in response to uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article was to examine how Germany, Italy and Spain practice digital public diplomacy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia countries in 2022, i.e., how they promote their countries through their embassies? Facebook profiles. Three research questions posed by the authors were: 1) Which social networks and applications have embassies of Germany, Italy, and Spain used in the countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia to inform and communicate with different audiences?; 2) Which soft power tools were dominantly communicated by the German, Italian, and Spanish embassies on Facebook profiles in countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia during 2022 to promote their own countries?; and 3) Are digital diplomacy tools of Germany, Italy, and Spain, that they utilize to promote their own countries and communicate with the public of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia, following their foreign policy focus? The authors have used quantitative content and thematic analysis to answer these questions. The results were presented with the use of descriptive statistics. The authors? findings indicated that digital diplomacy 2.0 is standard practice for Germany and Italy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia. Less information was available regarding Spain's digital diplomacy efforts. The research's findings further demonstrated that Germany and Italy exhibit greater interest in the Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries compared to Spain, which was concordant with their foreign policy focuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article was to examine how Germany, Italy and Spain practice digital public diplomacy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia countries in 2022, i.e., how they promote their countries through their embassies’ Facebook profiles. Three research questions posed by the authors were: 1) Which social networks and applications have embassies of Germany, Italy, and Spain used in the countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia to inform and communicate with different audiences?; 2) Which soft power tools were dominantly communicated by the German, Italian, and Spanish embassies on Facebook profiles in countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia during 2022 to promote their own countries?; and 3) Are digital diplomacy tools of Germany, Italy, and Spain, that they utilize to promote their own countries and communicate with the public of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia, following their foreign policy focus? The authors have used quantitative content and thematic analysis to answer these questions. The results were presented with the use of descriptive statistics. The authors’ findings indicated that digital diplomacy 2.0 is standard practice for Germany and Italy in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia. Less information was available regarding Spain’s digital diplomacy efforts. The research’s findings further demonstrated that Germany and Italy exhibit greater interest in the Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries compared to Spain, which was concordant with their foreign policy focuses.