Politicization and Contestation of the European Foreign Policy in Visegrad Group Countries

European foreign policy is traditionally supported by CEE governments and its citizens along the assumption that for the weaker international actors participation in activities of the EU strengthens their position in international relations. Their main interests and preferences as regards the EU’s involvement in neighbourhood were relatively coherent and in the first years after the membership were focusing on the EU’s greater engagement in Eastern Europe. However such approach is changing in recent years, as the EU’s closest neighbourhood is disintegrating and plagued with conflicts. The consequences of the Arab Spring are destabilising southern neighbourhood. The Ukraine conflict – specifically fuelling fears in Central and Eastern Europe – acted as a reminder that Eastern Europe is prone to destabilisation and Russian foreign policy. The main aim of the proposed paper is to demonstrate the increasing politicization and contestation of EU’s external relations especially in its neighbourhood by political actors from Visegrad Group (VG). Based on a substantial empirical data from the European Parliament (2004-2014) the patterns of politicization and contestation of EU’s engagement in its close neighbourhood will be revealed. The paper focuses on the VG countries as they initially formed a coalition promoting together preferences as regards the EU’s external relations but the common definition of problems and solutions in EU’s close neighbourhood is decreasing following Ukraine crisis. Conceptually, the paper discusses how the contestation and politicisation develop in the realm of EU's external relations.