Eschewing Choice: Ukraine’s Strategy on Russia and the EU

Abstract

Ukraine has long been castigated for its noncommittal attitude to cooperation with the EU, this being part of its ‘multi-vector’ foreign policy. Such a policy was widely attributed to the failings of domestic elites, which delay reform for fear of losing rents and power. The recent setback in EU-Ukraine relations, however, highlights more complex reasons behind this. First, a pro-European vector is not a self-evident choice for Ukraine, which is economically interdependent with both Russia and the EU. Second, the economic crisis has made the EU less attractive in the short term. In good times business was looking to Europe for opportunities to develop. But in times of crisis it is looking to Russia for cheap resources to survive. Despite these unfavourable short-term trends, an association agreement with the EU stands out as the only alternative that promises to put the shaky Ukrainian economy back on track towards long-term sustainable economic growth.