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Ukraine is currently negotiating visa-free travel with the EU as part of a wide-ranging association agreement, as some of the country's politicians express hopes for a clearer "European perspective". EurActiv outlines various scenarios for Ukraine's expected rocky path towards closer EU integration.

Background: Ukraine, a country of 46 million people wedged between the EU and Russia, has broken with its Soviet and totalitarian past, but its democracy is still young and fragile.  While enlargement to Ukraine is not officially on the table and is widely seen as premature, the option is supported by Central European countries and many Ukrainian politicians. On the other hand, the EU's readiness to absorb large countries like Turkey or Ukraine is currently limited.  Ukraine's record has been shaky since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Orange Revolution in 2004, notably due to government instability, fights between the prime minister and the president, and numerous scandals (see EurActiv 04/09/08).  In parallel, Ukraine is negotiating an association agreement with the EU, which would essentially see the two open their markets to one another, like any free trade agreement, but one step short of the customs union in force with Turkey. Creating visa-free travel with Ukraine could also be an important step in its EU rapprochement.  Ukrainian membership of NATO was rejected at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, at the same time as Georgia's was turned down (EurActiv 02/04/09). According to some analysts, the decision facilitated the latter's invasion of South Ossetia and Abkhazia four months later. 

Many politicians in Ukraine wish to see their country enter the EU through the main entrance. The reality, however, is that the process will likely result in entry via a side door after hanging around in several waiting rooms in the meantime, experts in Brussels and Kyiv told EurActiv. 

Germany's close relations with Russia are the main obstacle to signing a major EU-Ukraine treaty at the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit in France, Ukraine diplomats say, warning that failure to seal the deal will signal to Moscow that it can veto EU policy on post-Soviet states.

"There are maybe two or three countries who are strong opposers, strong sceptics," Ukrainian deputy foreign minister Konstantin Yeliseyev said in Brussels on Thursday (28 August), commenting on EU reluctance to state clearly that "the future of Ukraine lies in the European Union" in the preamble to the new treaty

A new proposal by Sweden and Poland to strengthen the EU's ties with its eastern neighbours to be officially presented today is not meant to undermine but rather enhance existing EU policies, according to a draft paper obtained by EurActiv.

Mirroring the countries already covered by the ENP scheme, the new initiative aims to improve ties with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and particularly Ukraine. The draft paper suggests that a new Enhanced Partnership Agreement (EPA) currently being negotiated with Ukraine "could serve as a reference" for other countries. 

The new initiative is seen as a complement to the French-driven 'Union for the Mediterranean' proposal, but unlike the original French vision, the Polish-Swedish proposal clearly states that it would be embedded into existing EU structures and does not seek additional funding but is financed solely out of the ENP budget.

Kiev plans to push Brussels to insert a strong reference to accession prospects in a new bilateral treaty and to get the word "association" into the title of the new document, after the EU on Monday (22 January) used wishy-washy language on future relations. "They say the Balkans have a European perspective and this is a huge stimulus for democratic and economic reform. Why don't they do this with Ukraine? Let's be fair. Let's be consistent," a Ukraine diplomat told EUobserver.

EU rules beyond EU borders: theorizing external governance in European politics Sandra Lavenex; Frank Schimmelfennig Pages 791 – 812 Abstract | References | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles  buy now Modes of external governance: a cross-national and cross-sectoral comparison Sandra Lavenex;  Dirk Lehmkuhl; Nicole Wichmann Pages 813 – 833 Abstract | References | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles  buy now Which rules shape EU external governance? Patterns of rule selection in foreign and security policies Esther Barbé;  Oriol Costa;  Anna Herranz Surrallés; Michal Natorski Pages 834 – 852 Abstract | References | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles  buy now ./content%7Edb=all%7Econtent=a

EU rules beyond EU borders: theorizing external governance in European politics Sandra Lavenex; Frank Schimmelfennig Pages 791 – 812 Abstract | References | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles  buy now Modes of external governance: a cross-national and cross-sectoral comparison Sandra Lavenex;  Dirk Lehmkuhl; Nicole Wichmann Pages 813 – 833 Abstract | References | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles  buy now Which rules shape EU external governance? Patterns of rule selection in foreign and security policies Esther Barbé;  Oriol Costa;  Anna Herranz Surrallés; Michal Natorski Pages 834 – 852 Abstract | References | Full Text PDF | Full Text HTML | Request Permissions Related Articles  buy now bo

By keeping Ukraine's EU accession prospects alive, European Union leaders yesterday (9 September) steered clear of creating a "damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't" situationby balancing a desire to encourage the country's pro-Western leadership with concerns not to further radicalise Moscow in the wake of the Georgia crisis.

The EU appeared to be divided at the summit, with France, Germany and Italy advocating a cautious approach to Moscow, while Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Baltic states expressed their wish to develop stronger ties with the EU's eastern neighbourhood after the Georgia crisis. 

The final shape of an EU security mission to Georgia and broader EU-Russia relations will top the agenda of an EU foreign ministers' meeting in France this weekend. The possibility of relaxing sanctions against Belarus and prospects for a new Ukraine treaty will also come up for debate.

It remains uncertain if the unit will be composed of EU-badged policemen or soldiers however, if it will stand alongside OSCE monitors or be part of an OSCE-led team and if it will have access to the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Avignon meeting will also examine if the EU should relax sanctions against Belarus, which last month released three political prisoners and promises to hold its free and fairest-ever parliamentary elections on 28 September.

The EU wants to "deepen" its ties with four of its neighbours - Ukraine, Moldova, Morocco and Israel - external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in Brussels on Thursday (3 April).

The ENP covers Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, as well as the Palestinian Authority. It was designed with the aim of offering EU neighbours closer – or privileged – cooperation with the bloc, but it does not foresee eventual EU membership, a fact repeated regularly by Brussels. But referring to Ukraine, Ms Ferrero-Waldner noted: "For the future, nothing is ruled out and nothing is ruled in, the [EU] door is neither open nor closed."

The lower house of the French parliament on Thursday (29 May) approved an amendment to constitutional reforms that could make it compulsory for France to hold a referendum on large countries joining the EU, in a move targeting Turkey. Under the amendment tabled by Jean-Luc Warsmann – a deputy from the centre-right UMP party - holding a referendum would be obligatory to approve the EU accession of any country whose population surpasses five percent of the EU population (about 500 million people).

Ukraine also affected Besides Turkey, the amendment would also affect EU hopeful Ukraine with its some 46 million inhabitants.

EU and Ukrainian leaders will today (14 September) meet to discuss advancements on a new bilateral agreement with Kiev hoping it will make a clearer allusion to eventual EU integration, but Brussels is still keeping Ukraine at arm's length.

he European Commission is working on an 'Eastern Partnership' with Ukraine, Georgia and other countries lying on its eastern borders, diplomats and EU officials have announced.

Ukraine wants an 'Eastern European Partnership', modelled on the defunct Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, as a precursor to future EU membership, the country's ambassador in Brussels told journalists yesterday (6 November)

According to Veselovski, the partnership's added value compared to the EU's current neighbourhood policy would reside in a joint effort to change perceptions about the region, which he said is too often portrayed as a conflict-ridden area unfit for EU integration. 

EU divisions were apparent on the eve of the NATO summit in Bucharest on 2-4 April with several heavyweights, including France, opposed to the planned Eastern expansion of the military alliance. EurActiv Romania contributed to this report from Bucharest.

Several EU heavyweights (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium) are opposed to such a project.  In the meantime, several representatives of the new EU members expressed their support for opening the NATO door to Kiev and Tbilisi.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that President Nicolas Sarkozy would oppose the idea at the Summit in Bucharest. "France is not green-lighting Ukraine and Georgia's accession. Paris has a different opinion to that of the US on the matter", Fillon told France Inter Radio, quoted by Rompres. Romanian President Traian Basescu, who is hosting the largest-ever summit of NATO's 26 member states, stated that including Ukraine and Georgia in the MAP is "a logical step from the Romanian point of view". 

Outlining some of the main priories of the incoming Czech EU Presidency, Milena Vicenova, the Czech ambassador to the bloc in Brussels, said her country would seek to hold an "informal summit" with the US in Prague, involving the leaders of the bloc's 27 member states in a departure from the usual European 'troika' format of delegations.

Meanwhile, the Czech ambassador also said her country would follow up on proposals tabled by the European Commission earlier this month to develop an Eastern Partnership to improve ties with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and particularly Ukraine.

The Czech ambassador also expressed her hope that the European elections, which are scheduled to take place on 4-7 June 2009, would be a success. "We will do everything in our power to avoid low turnout our voter apathy, and we hope to keep a positive spirit."

EU policies applied to the Western Balkans - such as a regional free trade area - are inspiring the "Eastern Partnership" with Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and "hopefully" Belarus, participants at a conference organized Wednesday (17 September) by the German Konrad Adenauer think-tank learned.

Initially a Polish-Swedish proposal endorsed in June by all member states, the Eastern Partnership is designed to deepen ties with the "European neighbours" to the east, balancing the 'Mediterranean Union' with the southern "neighbours of Europe," as Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski put it. The Georgian conflict sped up the process of drafting the eastern policy by the European Commission, with president Jose Manuel Barroso scheduled to sketch out the main features already at the EU summit on 15 October.