During the last two decades, one of the cornerstones of the foreign policy of the European Union (EU) has been the development of a strong presence in its neighbourhood. The 2003 Security Strategy and the recent 2016Global Strategy highlighted the need to show that the EU can play a major role in the international arena by first establishing a strong presence in the neighbourhood and proving the union's effectiveness in the region. In this context, the aim of the essay is to explore the way the EU's 'ideal self' is constructed and perceived in the post-Soviet space. DURING THE LAST TWO DECADES, ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF THE foreign policy of the European Union (EU) has been represented by the development of a strong presence in its neighbourhood (Raik & Dinesen 2015). The 2003 Security Strategy 1 and the recent 2016 Global Strategy 2 highlighted the need to show that the European Union can play a major role in the international arena by first establishing a strong presence in the 1 The 2003 Security Strategy highlighted the EU's ambition to play a key role in world politics, and the expectation that it would manage to influence its neighbourhood following the 2004/2007 'big bang' enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe. For more details see: https://europa.eu/globalstrategy/en/europeansecurity-strategy-secure-europe-better-world 2 The 2016 Global Strategy stresses the fact that world politics has become less stable than a decade ago and require a different approach from the EU. The emphasis is on the need to develop an approach based on principled pragmatism, where the EU has more limited ambitions in international relations and seeks to pursue its interests in foreign policy. For more details see: https://europa.eu/globalstrategy/en/global-strategy-foreignand-security-policy-european-union 2 neighbourhood and proving the union's effectiveness in the region. This broad aim has been translated in various initiatives towards the neighbourhood such as the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) 3 , the Easter Partnership (EaP) 4 , and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) 5 . As part of the European neighbourhood, the post-Soviet space has thus received significant attention from the EU, who aimed to shape both the domestic and foreign policies of the countries in the region. However, the EU's track record of shaping developments in the post-Soviet space has been at best mixed (Ademmer 2014), given the reluctance of some post-Soviet states to go beyond rhetoric in adapting their policies as well as EU member states' unwillingness and lack of commitment to fully support the union's approach to the region (Nilsson & Silander 2016). EU ouvertures have also been received with scepticism by some post-Soviet states, which tend to see EU policy towards the region as deeply unilateral, asymmetrical, and without regard for the specificities or needs of each country (Delcour 2010). Most of the findings from the open literature refer to the EU's ability to promote its integration project in the post-Soviet states, that is, the ...