European Union and the Ukrainian Crisis: the European Parliament’s perspective

Despite the considerable flow of published material on external relations of the European Union and the European Parliament, it is indeed worth pointing out that only rarely previous studies have focused on the European Parliament and its Foreign Policy, notably Gaja (1980), Weiler (1980), Fontaine (1984), Lodge (1988), Penders (1988), Neunreither (1990), Elles, J. (1990), Millar (1991), Monar (1993), Prout (1992, 1993, 1994), Viola (2000, 2003, 2019) Stavridis and Irrera (2015) and Dupagny (1992) and two edited books by Barbé. By looking more widely at parliamentary diplomacy, Raube et al. (2019) have also addressed the role of the European Parliament in foreign policy. The aim of this paper is therefore to contribute to enlarging the debate by launching an overall discussion, open to academics and practitioners, on the European Parliament’s involvement in foreign affairs. More specifically, this paper will look at the European Union’s stance toward the Ukrainian crisis by analysing the role played by this institution in the different phases of the crisis. In unveiling the parliamentary multi-faceted view of this event, reference is also made to the positions taken by constituent political groups. The following questions will be addressed: has the European Parliament sought to define and shape a common foreign policy with respect to the Ukrainian crisis? Has the European Parliament managed to overcome divisions among its members in order to achieve a unitary stance vis-à-vis this question? Finally, we will attempt to assess whether this crisis has marked a milestone for the European Parliament to become a genuine actor on the international stage.