EU MISSIONS AS A TOOL FOR SUPPORTING PEACE AND SECURITY IN THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of European Union missions as an instrument for supporting peace and security in the Eastern Partnership region. The relevance of the study is determined by the high level of conflict in the region, armed conflicts and full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which pose serious challenges to the European and international security system. The purpose of the article is to assess the role and effectiveness of EU missions in the Eastern Partnership countries as part of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. The paper analyses the institutional foundations for the formation and implementation of EU missions within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and examines the specific features of the activities of key EU civilian missions in the region, in particular EUAM Ukraine, EUMM Georgia, EUBAM Moldova and Ukraine, and EUMA Armenia. Based on a comparative analysis, their objectives, mandate, limitations and level of effectiveness in ensuring stability, preventing conflict escalation and supporting security reforms are identified. The methodological basis of the study consists of comparative and institutional analysis, as well as SWOT analysis, which made it possible to systematise the strengths and weaknesses of EU missions, their opportunities and threats in the context of escalating geopolitical confrontation. It has been proven that EU missions play an important stabilising role in the region, primarily in the civil-institutional dimension, but their effectiveness is significantly limited by the civilian nature of their mandate, the lack of enforcement mechanisms, internal institutional constraints within the EU and active opposition from the Russian Federation. It is concluded that further strengthening the EU’s role in ensuring peace and security in the Eastern Partnership region requires adapting the mandates of missions to new security realities, strengthening the EU’s internal consolidation, and closer integration of missions with the broader strategic goals of European security policy.