What is international legitimacy? And how can we understand recognition of a new state actor in non-binary terms? Recent research shows that legitimacy and recognition must be understood in more complex, non-binary terms than classical theories previously shown. This essay addresses the issue of the European Union (EU) expressing a binary opinion of recognition or non-recognition of the Taliban after their claim to power in Afghanistan, while their actions point us to a form of scaled legitimacy. These scales of legitimacy integrated with the theoretical framework of EUs processes of recognition of new state actors shows us how statements from EU officials points to a gradually softened approach to the Taliban. This essay will argue that the causes of this change in approach lie not only in the core values of the EU but also in a lack of power in self-determination. This forces EU to adjust its attitude towards a previously condemned actor. Also, that there is a need for more studies of how to understand this scaled legitimacy to fully understand the consequences of the actions towards non-recognised actors.