This book offers an accessible and rigorous introduction to the context, diplomacy, and law of the European Union's response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The book explores how the EU responded to the war in the initial months, and is based on research carried out on Russian and European political, diplomatic, and legal texts. Presenting a unique interdisciplinary perspective, the book delves into topics such as the EU diplomatic response, the Ukrainian application for membership of the EU, the policy and legal aspects of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Additionally, the book examines the significance of the EU's unprecedented political response for the constitutional structure of the EU, and for the strategy toward the Russia of the future.

This strongly interdisciplinary book provides a first tentative evaluation of the role that geopolitics plays in shaping the genesis and functioning of the law of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It introduces the reader to the geopolitical context of the EU and of its main neighbours, as well as to the legal architecture of CFSP. The book then presents selected cases of the Union's action (or inaction) in CFSP since 2009. These show the key argument of the book: the law of CFSP is not entirely fit for purposes as it does not reflect the geopolitical reality of the continent. The book reflects on such geopolitical reality as it results, in particular, from the 2004 EU enlargement, and comments upon three key issues of the CFSP legal framework: issues of coherence, accountability, and effectiveness. With its fusion of law and geopolitics, the book will be invaluable for students of EU foreign policy and EU external relations law.