Nathalie Tocci

The Russo-Ukrainian War has presented the EU with the proverbial crisis to be transformed into an opportunity for its integration journey. By touching on four fundamental policy pillars of European integration – enlargement, asylum, energy and defense – the war presents unprecedented scope for the EU to rise (or fall). The overarching theme tying these policy strands together is resilience, which captures the idea of responding, adapting and bouncing back (or forward) from crisis, and is connected to time and endurance. To what extent and for how long will the EU keep up its momentum and "use" the Russo-Ukrainian War to move forwards (rather than backwards) on integration? These two sides of the resilience coin deeply affect whether and how (and for how long) the EU will seize the opportunity presented by the war to enter a new stage in its integration journey.