Understanding the legitimation of the EU-Ukraine action plan – a discourse historical approach to EU foreign policy on Ukraine after the orange revolution

Figures & data

Table 1. Legitimation categories⁵

Authorisation
Authority	Personal authority: based on institutional status of individuals or groups
	Impersonal authority: originating from laws, policies, regulations, etc.
	Expert authority: academic, scientific expertise or other type of credible knowledge
	Role Model Authority: popularity and acceptability of positions of role models
Custom	Authority of tradition: acceptability of what is claimed to have always been done
	Authority of conformity: acceptability of what everyone or most people do
Moralisation	Abstraction: Abstract depiction of practices that links them to moral values
	Evaluation: Legitimation of positions and practices via evaluative adjectives
	Analogy: Relying on legitimating or delegitimising force of comparisons and contrasts
Rationalisation
Instrumental rationalisation	Goal Orientation: Focusing on goals, intentions, purposes as envisaged by people
	Means Orientation: Focusing on aims embedded in actions “as a means to an end”
	Outcome Orientation: Focused on outcomes of actions as if already known
Theoretical rationalisation	Definition: Characterising activities in terms of other already moralised practices
	Explanation: Characterising people as actors because the way they do things is appropriate to the nature of these actors
	Prediction: Foreseeing outcomes based on some kind of expertise
Mythopoesis	Moral Tales: Narrating rewarding decisions and practices of social actors
	Cautionary Tales: Associating nonconformist and deviant decisions and practices with undesirable consequences

Table 3. Corpus of data

Text	Date	Genre
1: Press release on European Parliament vote on statement on Ukrainian elections https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/dn_05_44	January 12, 2005	Press release
2: Press release on Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner at the inauguration of new Ukrainian president Yushchenko https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_05_81	January 21, 2005	Press release
3: Speech by High Representative Javier Solana at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (pdf file)	January 24, 2005	Speech
4: Speech by Ferrero-Waldner: „Europa als globaler Akteur—Aktuelle Schwerpunkte Europäischer Außen- und Nachbarschaftspolitik“– https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_30	January 24, 2005	Speech
5: Speech by Ferrro-Waldner: Remarks to Foreign Affairs Committee – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_41	January 25, 2005	Speech
6: Speech by Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner at the Conference of the Graz Process https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_74	January 28, 2005	Speech
7: Press release on the 2637^th meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations of the Council of the European Union https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/pres_05_15	January 31, 2005	Press release
8: Q&A session of Condoleezza Rice, Ferrero-Waldner and Barroso with journalists https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_84	February 9, 2005	Press conference
9: Cover note from Co-secretary of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council sent to the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council containing the text of the EU-Ukraine Action Plan (pdf file)	February 14, 2005	Cover note
10: Press release on Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner’s visit to Ukraine https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_05_186	February 16, 2005	Press release
11: Transcript of EU press release after eight meeting of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council (6428/05) (pdf file)	February 21, 2005	Press release
12: 2641st Council meeting General Affairs and External Relations – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/pres_05_34	February 21, 2005	Press release
13: EU-Ukraine—Strengthening the Strategic Partnership – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/memo_05_57	23 February 2005	Memo
14: Speech by Ferrero-Waldner: Eine Partnerschaft der Erneuerung—Europas strategische Prioritäten für das 21. Jahrhundert – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_139	7 March, 2005	Speech
15: EU-Ukraine Ministerial Troika – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_05_362	29 March 2005	Press release
16: Speech by Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner: “Europe’s Neighbours—Towards Closer Integration” https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_253	April 22, 2005	Speech
17: Speech by Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner: “The EU and Ukraine—What Lies Beyond the Horizon?” https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_257	April 26, 2005	Speech
18: Press release on the EU and Ukraine strengthening energy cooperation https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_05_504	April 28, 2005	Press release
19: Speech by Ferrero-Waldner: Europas Herausforderungen im 20. Jahrhundert: Innovation, Integration und Internationalität – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_264	1 May, 2005	Speech
20: Speech by Ferrero-Waldner: Die Außenbeziehungen der Europäischen Union—Herausforderungen und Perspektiven – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_281	13 May, 2005	Speech
21: Speech by Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy Margot Wallström: “Transnational Democracy—the Road Ahead for Europe?” https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_05_342	June 10, 2005	Speech
22: Transcript of EU press release after the ninth meeting of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council (10047/05, Presse 146) (pdf file)	June 13, 2005	Press release
23: Interview of High Representative Javier Solana with newspaper День: https://m.day.kyiv.ua/en/article/day-after-day/javier-solana-ball-ukraines-court	June 14, 2005	Interview
24: EESC supports Ukrainian civil society in the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Action Plan – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ces_05_76	June 28, 2005	Press release EESC

Table 2. Types of legitimation⁷ and frequency found in conditionality legitimations

Type of legitimation	Frequency found in total	Which texts?
Authorisation	37	2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23,
Moralisation	48	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 13, 19, 20, 21, 24
Rationalisation	226	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Mythopoesis	N/A	N/A
Moralisation legitimations	Frequency found in total	Which texts?
Abstraction	22	1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 19, 21
Evaluation	15	1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 16, 17
Analogy	11	4, 8, 16, 17, 13, 20, 24
Rationalisation legitimations	Frequency found in total	Which texts?
Rationalisation	226	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Instrumental rationalisation	183	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Instrumental rationalisation: goal orientation	15	4, 10, 17, 12, 18, 20, 21
Instrumental rationalisation: means orientation	100	1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Instrumental rationalisation: outcome orientation	68	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Theoretical rationalisation	43	2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 12, 13, 15, 18, 21, 23, 24
Theoretical rationalisation: definition	20	2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17, 12, 13, 18, 23, 24
Theoretical rationalisation: explanation	16	2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 15, 21
Theoretical rationalisation: prediction	7	16, 17, 18, 23, 24
Authorisation legitimations	Frequency found in total	Which texts?
Authority - personal	9	4, 10, 17, 18, 21
Authority - impersonal	25	2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 12, 13, 15, 18, 21, 23
Authority - Expert	2	17, 20
Authority – Role model	1	17
Custom – tradition	N/A	N/A
Custom - conformity	N/A	N/A

Graph 1. Types of legitimation strategies employed by the EU.

Graph 2. Types of rationalisation legitimations employed by the EU.