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Meandering Europeanisation: EU Policy Instruments and Policy Convergence in Georgia Under the Eastern Partnership

Drawing upon the policy instrument approach developed by Lascoumes and Le Galès, this article examines the representations and meanings underlying the Eastern Partnership’s tools and their effects on policy practices in partner countries. Based upon two sector-specific studies (EU instruments in food safety and visa liberalisation) in EU-Georgia relations, the article maintains that there has been a shift in the logic underlying the EU’s policy instruments. While the Eastern Partnership’s toolbox offers an innovative combination of participatory instruments and hierarchical policy transfer, the practice of EU-neighbours’ interactions highlights a clear predominance of the latter. The increased reliance upon conditionality has not only contributed to (re)structuring EU-Eastern neighbours relations in terms of agenda-setting. It has also affected practices of policy convergence in partner countries. By imposing conditionality while failing to adjust to Georgia’s specific needs, the EU’s approach generates more systematic, yet shallow policy convergence.