European Union’s contribution to civilian security sector reform in Ukraine after 2014

Abstract

The article looks at ways on how Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union are contributing to peace and stability in Ukraine. Since 2014, after the Euromaidan and its demands for Europeanization of the country, the EU and other international donors are assisting Ukraine in its modernization efforts. The spread of violent military conflict in Eastern Ukraine required multilateral engagement of strategic partners in transformation of security and defence sectors, as well as active participation in conflict management in the Eastern part of the country. EU was taking part in various initiatives offered by member states, the Community itself, and Ukraine. The article questions whether those instruments, which constitute the essence of CSDP, have been utilized, and how beneficial those efforts were for Ukraine. The article also explores what improvements in the implementation of CSDP could enhance transformation of security sector in Ukraine and what are the main communication channels used to explain the reforms. Cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union was considered in a historical aspect. The authors emphasize that the first mechanisms for cooperation with the former Soviet Union republics were proposed by the European Union in 1994. These are the TACIS (Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States) and the TEMPUS (Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies) programmes that Ukraine has used in part. Ukraine’s cooperation with the EU within the framework of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine, the aim of which was facilitating the transformation of the civil security sector, was also considered. The article gives an overview of the tools that the European Union has at its disposal to work with other countries in the civil security sector. The results of the work of the EU in Ukraine after 2014, when the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine was launched, are analyzed. A list of issues to consider in the future is given.