Building European Identity in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia after 2014

One of the main foreign policy goals of the EU is to promote its values and norms in its vicinity. The mechanism through which the union tries to establish better neighbourhood relations in its Eastern vicinity is the Eastern Partnership (EaP) . Nowadays, the partner countries of the EU in the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) are the experimenting terrain of the application and internalization of the foreign policy agendas of both the EU and Russia. This ideological battle between the EU multilateral system and Russia’s multipolar world order are deeply influencing the identity narratives of the EaP countries. In this regards, the objective of this paper is to analyze the European identity formation and European norms internalization in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. Is the European Union successful in influencing these countries to adhere to its democratic values, respect for rule of law and human rights? Or are these countries adopting them only to have access to the economic benefits of partnering with the EU? To find some answers to these questions, I will use the theoretical concepts of norms and identity defined by Alexander Wendt’ socio-constructivism.