Реформирование политики Европейского союза в сфере урегулирования конфликтов в контексте кризиса на Украине

Abstract

Introduction: in 2020 the European Union (EU) reviewed its key documents designed as guidelines for peacekeeping practices; this was aimed at broadening the geography of participation, ensuring more efficient interaction between government and non-governmental structures, as well as providing more flexibility in dealing with parties of conflict zones. For the past three decades, the EU’s peacekeeping activities have changed drastically, turning mainly into a factor of European “soft power” and influence expansion. Objectives: to consider transformations in peacekeeping processes at the US regulatory and institutional levels. Methods: analysis of the EU regulatory and contractual framework, conceptual documents. Results: the article covers the motives for EU participation in peace mediation and the leading theories explaining them. The author concluded that before the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, the restrictions that prevented the EU involvement in the conflict played a greater role than the motives for participation. However, due to the confrontation between Russia and the West, the aspect of peacekeeping policy that was associated with unwillingness to collide with Russian interests and always weakened it, has generally lost its relevance. Conclusions: recent transformations in peacekeeping processes at US regulatory and institutional levels expand the EU’s reaction capability; but upscaling these activities and increasing its efficiency do not seem possible without a fundamental review of the Common Foreign and Security Policy instruments.