EU’s member states from East-Central Europe (ECE) have supported EU’s engagment through the ENP and the Eastern Partnership. The Eastern neighbourhood is deemed an arena in which the transition experience of ECE states may assist the process of integration with the EU. However, the Vilnius Summit in 2013 highlighted the weakness of the EU’s influence in the region, especially in light of Russia’s counter offer. This paper examines the role of ECE states in the EU’s failure to persuade some eastern partner countries of the merits of integration with the EU and argues that 1) ECE states have uncritically accepted the use of enlargement instruments on non-accession states; 2) the diversity of interests within the EU have rendered the EU’s Eastern policies highly technocratic, prioritising the transposition of EU law; and 3) ECE countries failed to capitalise on their transition experience due to capacity constraints and weak advocacy.
