Ukraine Crisis and the EU Foreign Policy

The multiple crises that challenged the EU from within and from outside its borders in the last few years have exerted a great deal of pressure on the European Foreign Policy architecture. Specifically, this paper addresses the existing conflict prevention and crisis management mechanisms and the union’s readiness to respond by using its internal toolbox. In the Ukrainian context, a comprehensive EU Foreign Policy response was hard to galvanize. The internal old-new, East-West member state divisions reinforced the existing weaknesses.

This paper will look at the potential of EU Foreign Policy to change as a result of the Ukraine Crisis and what kind of adjustments should be foreseen at the community level in order to enhance the union’s capabilities and effectiveness.

In order to analyze and frame these changes in the context of EU ENP and Enlargement Policy, this paper attempts to concentrate the efforts towards bringing together all the political and legislative initiatives related to the Ukraine Crisis, that took place at the community level since Maidan (November 2013) to date. Furthermore, this paper will consider significant similar initiatives at the member state level which has determined certain courses of action for the EU as a whole. At the end, a series of consolidated policy recommendations will encourage decision makers to reconsider their options and further elaborate on their commitment to pursue a unitary and coordinated engagement.