Building resilience beyond the EU’s eastern borders. EU actorness and societal perceptions in Ukraine and Republic of Moldova

The resilience approach as EU's newfound paradigm places societies and communities at the heart of its interactions with external partners, and especially with its immediate neighbours. As such, in order to enhance its resilience and that of its neighbours, the EU has turned its attention from state to society, from a general top-down to a bottom-up approach. The success of this approach depends, to a certain extent, on the local trust in the EU's performance as a transformative actor. The present paper inquires how EU's actorness is being perceived beyond its eastern borders (mainly in the border regions of Ukraine and Republic of Moldova) and explores the implications for building a more resilient society in the Eastern neighbourhood. We argue that in spite of the EU's attempts to enhance its actorness in the region, or its incentives to bring about reforms and promote European values, the positive citizens' perceptions and the overall awareness of the EU still has a modest impact; this is further limiting EU's capacity to act towards building a 'stronger and more resilient society'.