The eastern partnership and the idea of Europeanisation challenged in the age of hybrid challenges

Abstract

The uniting idea for the promoters of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) project, both within the countries of the European Union (EU) and the EaP countries, was that of democratisation through Europeanisation, while the latter meant spreading of European norms and values of democracy (although excluded credible accession perspective). Nowadays, such approach is challenged by new hybrid threats, Russian assertiveness in the region and shifts in public opinion towards the EU. This chapter focuses on investigating the specific coordinates of the Europeanisation process and its adaptation capacity to the new realities, threats and challenges that the EaP countries are currently facing; the main findings conclude that in order to regain the support of civil society and population, to be able to counteract Russian influence in the region and to increase the level of resilience, the EU has a home task which is rethinking of the idea of Europeanisation in its initial terms for winning hearts and minds of the ordinary citizens.