Political conditionality as an EU foreign policy and crisis management tool. The case of EU wartime political conditionality vis-à-vis Ukraine

Abstract

This article explores the compatibility between the EU’s political conditionality as a policy tool and the EU’s approach to conflict management, guided by the EU Global Strategy. It does so based on the unique case of the EU’s application of political conditionality vis-à-vis Ukraine amidst the war and the reinvigoration of the EU’s enlargement policy in response thereto. We find conditionality to fit the EU’s crisis management toolbox, especially when it comes to the long-term approach and building resilience of state institutions in a target country. Though not yet strongly visible in the case of Ukraine, the application of conditionality may come into contradiction with the principles of societal resilience and local ownership, embedded into the EU’s approach to conflict management and the EU Global Strategy, more broadly.