Implementation Without Coordination: The Impact of the EU Conditionality on Ukraine Under the European Neighbourhood Policy

Abstract

The article examines the impact of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) on domestic change in Ukraine during 2005-7. Due to the interplay of external and domestic factors, no political leadership on European matters emerged in Ukraine in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution. The implementation of the Action Plan (AP) – the key instrument of the policy – has been left to the discretion of middle-level state officials, resulting in selective empowerment of sections of the state apparatus. However, without strong political engagement or an effective coordinating mechanism, this delivered slow, uneven and localised results. Nevertheless, despite the limited impact of the ENP, it is through the AP that the European Union has for the very first time started to affect domestic developments in Ukraine.

Keywords: Ukraine, ENP, convergence, EU, Europeanisation, EU external governance, eastern neighbours