Jean Monnet Project «EU regional security role: strengthening awareness within Ukraine» (Project 101047944 – EU-Sec)

In Ukraine as in many countries of the former USSR,  European integration has been perceived mostly in terms of economic implications, that is modernization or achieving higher standards of living. One of the most imperative facets of European integration – peace among European states - is missing in the public discourse within Ukraine. The shallow grasp of European integration is not appropriate in Ukraine which has been battling Russia since 2014. Before the aggression and annexation of Crimea, there has been a national consensus that war is a matter of history that will not repeat itself. Nowadays, withstanding the new full-scale Russian invasion is a matter of national survival.  

The European integration proves that it can be a sustainable way to rebuild the traditional nation-state relations in the region. European integration can also contribute to tackling the security problems of Ukraine and Europe as a region. Thus, this project is designed to address the ways European integration brings peace to the continent and to assess the current regional security environment in which the European Union operates, most notably in the context of implications of Russian aggression against Ukraine on European security system architecture.

 “EU-Sec” Jean Monnet Chair has four objectives:

First, strengthening the teaching at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohila Academy” about the impact of integration on achieving peace within the European continent. The proposed courses will highlight the integration as “a peace project”, its development, the transformation of the EU as a foreign policy and security actor, and its security role in the region. 

Second, carrying out and supervising research on the transformation of the European security system in the aftermath of the conflict “in and around” Ukraine and its implication for the European Union’s role in it, as well as inspiring the new generation of professionals and researchers interested in this field of study.

Third, reaching out to the community of practitioners and policymakers accentuating awareness within Ukraine about the EU regional security role. A better understanding of peace as a key component of European integration among the young Ukrainians will contribute to this idea.  

Fourth, engaging civil society members, students, teachers, and the general public in a debate about the state of European security as well as the EU's role in it at the local level via public events and lectures in the context of two of five proposed courses and through the public forums. Special attention has been paid to building up a dialogue with high school students and teachers, as well as representatives of the Ukrainian national and regional media.