Hybrid Wars and the Pursuit of Peace: the Militarisation of Political Discourse in the EU and its Neighbourhood

Since February 2022, Europe, as a continent, has been facing a period of significant challenges, comparable to the most tumultuous times in recent history. This has been marked by ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and, since October 2023, in Israel. If the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-1999 could somehow be viewed as something remote as the 'Balkans', and thus not related to Europe itself, the open contraposition between the democratic, liberal and free (Western) world and the authoritarian Eastern regimes, as represented by Putin's government, has involved the European Union in many ways. At the same time, the United Nations' credibility in conflict prevention and resolution has been called into question, creating an opportunity for other global players to step in. In this complex landscape, the pursuit of peace through peaceful means, including diplomacy, appears to be lagging behind the growing militarisation of new strategic behaviours on all sides. This creates a challenging environment where the balance of power, reminiscent of the Cold War era, remains uncertain. Warfare continues to be brutal and is evolving in new forms and methodologies based on innovative technologies. There is a worrying increase in the use of disinformation and misinformation, which has the potential to create confusion in European societies and hinder the formation of public opinion; the growing success of right-wing political parties and illiberal tendencies in general could be seen in this light. Democratisation through Europeanisation was an essential part of the EU's enlargement policy, based on the principle of conditionality, especially in the field of the Rule of Law. The Russian invasion of Ukraine radically challenged these premises, where the new geopolitical turn in its policies changed the rules of the game, opening the membership perspective for the Eastern Neighbourhood countries and accelerating it for the Western Balkans. The paper first analyses the shift towards militarisation of the political discourse within the EU institutions and leadership in relation to enlargement policies, procedures and practices, and explores its effectiveness in the pursuit of peace and conflict resolution. Secondly, it analyses the counter-narratives of the EU's competitors within the information environments of the selected candidate countries.