For the past twenty years, EU efforts to transform post-soviet states and societies have been focused on engaging with the governments and fostering legislative and institutional reforms. This paper argues that the EU has been “talking to the wrong guy” all along: the civil society is where the key to changes really lies. The Euromaidan in Ukraine is another vivid illustration of the real potential of the civil society to drive domestic change and of the gap between the values and orientations of the country and the state, common for the region. The findings of this paper call for a conceptual and a political revision of the EU approach to promote change in the Eastern Partnership countries.
