Added Value? Eastern Partnership and EU–Ukraine Bilateral Relations IRYNA SOLONENKO Introduction For Ukraine the Eastern Partnership(EaP) is both bad news and good news. It is bad news, since it does not respond to Ukraine’s aspirations for eu membership. Although these aspirations have been mainly declarative and not supported by reform processes on the ground, the prospect of eu membership has always been a criterion according to which Ukraine assessed the eu ’s policy. Moreover, the EaP has been criticized in Ukraine for its underfunding, which has been perceived as reflecting a lack of com­mitment on the part of the eu . Finally, the EaP is perceived in Ukraine as having little added value, since the initiative simply extends the offer already on the eu –Ukraine table to the other EaP partners, the level of whose relations with the eu was still below Ukraine’s. In other words, the eu offered to all the EaP partners the policy tools that have been tested on and in some ways shaped by Ukraine. But the EaP is also good news, since Ukraine is now no longer labelled a»neighbor« but a»partner.« Furthermore, at least Ukrainian policymakers have come to realize that the EaP offers added value and needs to be taken advantage of. At this stage, less than two years since the initiative’s implementation, we can assess the intentions and adequacy of the EaP only in terms of the eu ’s ambition to transform the partner countries. We can also analyze perceptions on the ground and the capacity of the partner countries to make use of the declared or potential added value, not least by being proactive and coming up with ideas and proposals. Ukraine’s Current Policy Priorities in Its Relations with the EU Ukraine and the eu are currently in an important phase of their relation­ship, with the two sides negotiating an Association Agreement. It is 120 Solonenko, Ukraine ipg 3/2011