The European Union's role as a conflict mediator: the cases of the Russo-Georgian War and the Ukrainian Crisis

Abstract

The aim of the research is to analyse the role of the European Union as a conflict mediator in relations to the two conflicts of Georgia in 2008 and in Ukraine in 2014. The two conflicts still represent a major issue within the Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU, based on the principles of peacekeeping, conflict prevention and strengthening of international security. Georgia and Ukraine are part of the Eastern Partnership, the multilateral cooperation initiative within the European Neighbourhood Policy, which aim is to build effective cooperation between the EU and its eastern neighbours in political, socio-economic and security terms. The Georgian case represents the “first major instance in which the EU had to develop genuine foreign policy, using tools different from those of enlargement.” (Lynch, 2008, as cited in Whitman, Wolff, 2009). The Ukraine case is to be considered because the peace process has not been yet completed and war still rages on in south-eastern Ukraine despite the Minsk Agreements having been negotiated. Both of the war crisis ended up with peace talks, the Geneva Talks and the Minsk Group, which involved the European Union and its diplomatic action. How did the EU exert influence in the negotiation process? Was the EU action successful? Where did the final Peace Agreements lead to? By providing a theoretical framework in the context of conflict mediation, retracing the institutional developments of the EU foreign policy structure, focusing on conflict mediation instruments, I will carry out analysis the two aforementioned case studies to delineate which role did the EU play in these conflicts.