The EU and Ukraine: rhetorical entrapment?

Abstract:

Employing the notion of ‘rhetorical entrapment’, this article offers a discussion of Ukraine's EU membership prospects. It argues that while, for material reasons, the EU may want to keep Ukraine at arm's length, normative commitments made earlier may compel it to offer much more. The study first looks at the domestic situation in Ukraine in light of the country's call for accession talks to be opened in 2007, before it goes on to analyse the distribution of support for and opposition to the Ukrainian membership perspective among the EU Member States.