THE EU ENERGY RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE

This article addresses the issue of the energy relations of the European Union and Ukraine, while the focus is, however, not on the technical and institutional aspects of the relationship, but rather on the discursive formations that determine the prevailing interpretation of the relationship by both parties. The main objective of the article is to analyse and interpret the energy discourse of the European Union towards Ukraine in the years 2004-2009 based on the identification of the fundamental discursive approaches. Building on a detailed discourse analysis of 130 statements and documents published by various EU institutions and selected political representatives of the European Commission, the article - within the individual discourses - focuses on: (a) their content; (b) their major themes; (c) their interpretation by the political representatives of the European Union; and (d) the role of norms in promoting the interests of the EU vis-a-vis Ukraine. The theoretical part of the article is rooted in social constructivism, which in relation to discourse analysis the basic methodological tool employed in the article reflects a number of theoretical assumptions.