Melania-Gabriela Ciot, Ana Damaschin, The New European Union Leadership: What Does it Mean for the European Union’s Eastern Neighborhood?

The purpose of this article is to analyze the normative power of the European Union, with an emphasis on the neighborhood and enlargement policy. We discuss the new leadership of the European Union that seeks to act more affirmatively to create a more strategic, more determined, and united Europe in the world, as well as its importance in terms of the European Union’s Eastern Neighborhood. Through an analysis of a national opinion poll survey, this article seeks to evidence the Ukrainians’ attitudes towards the country’s European integration in the context of the present crisis. As Ukraine is one of the European Union’s most significant and politically most critical direct neighbors, the new holistic constructive approach intends to determine the extent to which European and international leaders could contribute to the formation of a new European country and the resolution of the crisis in Eastern Europe and identify what the new European leadership means for the European Union’s Eastern Neighborhood.