The war in Ukraine raises new questions for EU foreign policy

Europe’s gravest security crisis in decades – has prompted the EU to take unprecedented decisions on security, defence and EU enlargement. It is also starting to shape the EU’s external action more broadly, opening new questions for Brussels and member states. With war at its doorstep following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has demonstrated unity and resolve in its response. As Crisis Group laid out in its latest statement on the war, the EU, alongside Kyiv’s other Western allies, has helped Ukraine resist the invasion and raised the costs thereof to Russia, while keeping the door for dialogue open and reducing to the extent possible the risks of direct confrontation with Moscow. Maintaining efforts to end the bloodshed in Ukraine and managing the threat the war poses to Europe’s security as a whole – along the lines that Crisis Group described – will have to remain the EU’s foremost priority. The war is also accelerating transformations in the EU’s foreign policy as Brussels is forced to adjust to new geopolitical realities. It is hard to overstate the leap that the EU and its member states have taken in response to the Russian aggression. Known for slow, timid foreign policy decision-making, often hampered by cumbersome procedure and internal division, the 27-member bloc reacted quickly, starting by levying against Moscow the strongest sanctions in its history and sending a surge of direct bilateral military assistance to Kyiv. Right up to the eve of the invasion, with Russian troops massed near the Ukrainian border, member states were divided over the threat emanating from Moscow, what additional sanctions against Russia might entail and how much military aid to provide to Ukraine. Indeed, had European governments agreed upon and been able to communicate beforehand the scale of their response, that might have at least played into the Kremlin’s calculations, though of course, whether it would have actually deterred Moscow is far from clear. After the invasion, however, the reaction came at a scale and speed rarely seen before. #eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #Russia #Ukraine #Energy #inflation #sanctions #RussianElite #Abramovich Amid a war that has become Europe’s biggest in decades, the EU and member states have thrown several longstanding policies overboard and taken steps that under normal circumstances would have met with strong opposition from various corners. These include decisions for the EU to finance for the first time the delivery of lethal weapons to a third country; to boost its defence cooperation in the face of new threat perceptions; to send (somewhat mixed) signals of openness to EU membership for the bloc’s eastern neighbors after years of enlargement fatigue; and to trigger, also for the first time, its 2001 Temporary Protection Directive, granting temporary residency to Ukrainian refugees. The EU’s move into new territory over Ukraine could create momentum toward a bolder EU foreign policy that lasts beyond the immediate response to this crisis. But for that to happen in a positive way, the EU will have to answer complex questions, which have thus far been largely brushed aside while the EU is operating in crisis mode. These include dilemmas about the scale and purpose of its defence plans, the strategic use of large-scale sanctions, the necessary safeguards for the provision of lethal equipment, and the pros and cons of further EU enlargement, among others. The EU will have to tackle these questions head on if it wants to develop a more effective European foreign policy. The Provision of Lethal Assistance The EU’s decision to use the European Peace Facility (EPF) – a fund for military and defence support for third countries and coalitions that was established only a year ago – to finance delivery of lethal equipment to Ukraine is one of the major foreign policy shifts prompted by the war. Originally, the EPF was envisaged not as a tool to intervene in large-scale wars but as a way to help partner countries fight insurgents or other armed groups. Its use in Ukraine is the first time ever that the EU has funded the supply of weapons to a third country, let alone a country at war. Although some member states are major arms exporters, the EU itself has no experience handling the risky implications of such military assistance. Previously, Brussels has agonised over whether to send much smaller amounts of non-lethal equipment to partner countries amid concerns about supporting militaries with poor human rights records and fears that equipment could fall into the wrong hands. When it came to assisting Kyiv, EU member states had taken up a large part of the past year negotiating a three-year EPF package worth €31 million to provide the Ukrainian army with non-lethal military, medical and logistics equipment.