What limitations does the Index face? 

Each edition of the Index poses limitations. We are aware of the following:  

• Data availability and accuracy: Across the EaP region, national authorities do not necessarily collect and report data uniformly, leading to potential discrepancies and challenges in making accurate interpretations and comparisons.  

• Challenges in securing independent civil society experts covering some sectoral topics: the Index relies on independent civil society experts from the six EaP countries; identifying such experts to cover some sectoral areas of the Index (namely those pertaining to “Policy Convergence with the EU”) proved to be challenging in relation to some EaP countries;   

• Subjective metrics: the EaP Index relies on expert opinions and authentic insights from local experts and sectoral coordinators from the EaP region. This type of approach to social research may result in instances of unintended bias affecting the scores and rankings.  

• Changing dynamics and timeliness: The Index faces challenges in keeping up with the rapidly changing (geo)political, economic, and social dynamics across the EaP countries and their evolving relations with the EU.  

• Impact of active war on comparability: Comparing a country experiencing full-scale war, such as Ukraine, with other EaP countries presents inherent methodological and ethical challenges. War significantly disrupts institutional functioning, data collection, and policy implementation, potentially skewing performance indicators.