EU’s actorness in a contested order: Dynamics of re/de/bordering in EU relations towards the East

In a context of contestation, where Russia has taken on an aggressive revisionist path, EU’s actorness gains increased relevance. This paper focuses on EU relations with its eastern neighbours, pursued with the goal of building a ‘ring of friends’ contributing to security and stability-building, through reforms’ implementation and the development of closer relations, and further East to the implications of Russia’s war of aggression on EU’s policies and actions. The EU’s transformative agenda towards the East met some criticism and resistance from Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, and clashed with Russia. Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 changed profoundly the setting for these relations, including the accession requests coming from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, along with the cut off of relations with Russia and Belarus. The implied debordering and rebordering dynamics taking place show the complexity of material and symbolic bordering practices, and show also the EU’s positioning in a challenging context. Through a critical border studies approach, this paper seeks to unpack these bordering dynamics and how they are reconfiguring the European space, arguing EU’s actorness and potential global reach is closely linked to its role as locus of resistance for countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia assuring their European identity and as locus of security as a primary actor in reconfiguring European security.