Since the Orange Revolution of 2004, Ukraine has attempted to attain a perspective of EU membership. Yet, while offering cooperation and association, the EU was divided on the issue and reluctant to commit itself. In 2022, however, Ukraine applied for EU membership immediately after the start of the Russian invasion and received the status of a candidate for membership on 23rd June 2022. Why and how did the war push the EU into this quick and bold decision? The literature on EU enlargement is marked by theoretical controversy. Is enlargement driven by the EU’s security and economic interests or by the desire or obligation to promote liberal norms and values in Europe? My research will shed new light on this controversy and explain the actors, motivations and processes that have led to this momentous policy reversal between the start of the war on 24 February 2022 and the EU’s decision four months later. My study will start from the theoretical literature on the EU’s foreign actorness and enlargement. In a process-tracing analysis, it will uncover novel empirical data from the analysis of official documents and interviews with EU and Ukrainian policy-makers and experts.
