The Russian invasion of Ukraine and changes in MEPs’ conceptions of security

Abstract

Options of organizing security are often determined by how it is conceived. The paper focuses on how European security has been discussed in the European Parliament in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing on parliamentary debates and meaning-making of security, we construct a threefold argument. Firstly, when MEPs discuss whose security needs to be addressed, we observe no significant changes between 2014 and 2022, but a decrease in the imagined distance between the EU and Ukraine and increase in the animosity toward Russia. Secondly, we show that security is continuously defined more broadly and extends to issues such as food, cyber, and civilian security. Finally, organizing security is increasingly viewed in competitive terms as opposed to a cooperative approach with Russia and has a strong focus on the EU’s independent agency in 2022.