This chapter provides a theoretical framework to explain governments’ choice of blame avoidance strategy when obliged to introduce EU conditionality. It consists of four parts. First, I locate blame avoidance strategies in the broader context of responsibility attribution and government responsiveness. Governments need to signal responsiveness to the electorate. Therefore, they have strong incentives to shape processes of responsibility attribution in their favour and avoid blame for unpopular policies. I introduce EU conditionality as a scope condition that limits the availability of the blame avoidance strategies governments have at their disposal. I then present the four blame avoidance strategies governments can use when facing EU conditionality. Finally, I develop specific expectations about when governments employ these four blame avoidance strategies. Building on blame avoidance scholarship, I propose that governments’ choice of blame avoidance strategy depends on the degree of politicisation of a policy and governing parties’ reputation for policy support.