diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/CHANGELOG.md b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/CHANGELOG.md
index 57d6b17bf5..c988d1e471 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ CHANGELOG
  * added `Exception\UnsupportedMetadataException`
  * made `Exception\ValidatorException` extend `Exception\RuntimeException`
  * added `Util\PropertyPath`
+ * made the PropertyAccess component an optional dependency
+ * deprecated `ValidatorBuilder::setPropertyAccessor()`
 
 
 2.4.0
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ConstraintValidatorFactory.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ConstraintValidatorFactory.php
index 5cf36eccff..d26680ea09 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ConstraintValidatorFactory.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ConstraintValidatorFactory.php
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
 
 namespace Symfony\Component\Validator;
 
-use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess;
-use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccessorInterface;
 use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\ExpressionValidator;
 
 /**
@@ -28,14 +26,11 @@ class ConstraintValidatorFactory implements ConstraintValidatorFactoryInterface
 {
     protected $validators = array();
 
-    /**
-     * @var PropertyAccessorInterface
-     */
     private $propertyAccessor;
 
-    public function __construct(PropertyAccessorInterface $propertyAccessor = null)
+    public function __construct($propertyAccessor = null)
     {
-        $this->propertyAccessor = $propertyAccessor ?: PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor();
+        $this->propertyAccessor = $propertyAccessor;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/Constraints/ExpressionValidator.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/Constraints/ExpressionValidator.php
index 0151dfe6bc..0e8bd405a4 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/Constraints/ExpressionValidator.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/Constraints/ExpressionValidator.php
@@ -12,10 +12,12 @@
 namespace Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints;
 
 use Symfony\Component\ExpressionLanguage\ExpressionLanguage;
+use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess;
 use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccessorInterface;
 use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyPath;
 use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
 use Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintValidator;
+use Symfony\Component\Validator\Context\ExecutionContextInterface;
 use Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\RuntimeException;
 use Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\UnexpectedTypeException;
 
@@ -35,8 +37,17 @@ class ExpressionValidator extends ConstraintValidator
      */
     private $expressionLanguage;
 
-    public function __construct(PropertyAccessorInterface $propertyAccessor)
+    /**
+     * @param PropertyAccessorInterface|null $propertyAccessor Optional as of Symfony 2.5
+     *
+     * @throws UnexpectedTypeException If the property accessor is invalid
+     */
+    public function __construct($propertyAccessor = null)
     {
+        if (null !== $propertyAccessor && !$propertyAccessor instanceof PropertyAccessorInterface) {
+            throw new UnexpectedTypeException($propertyAccessor, 'null or \Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccessorInterface');
+        }
+
         $this->propertyAccessor = $propertyAccessor;
     }
 
@@ -55,7 +66,12 @@ class ExpressionValidator extends ConstraintValidator
 
         $variables = array();
 
-        if (null === $this->context->getPropertyName()) {
+        // Symfony 2.5+
+        if ($this->context instanceof ExecutionContextInterface) {
+            $variables['value'] = $value;
+            $variables['this'] = $this->context->getObject();
+        } elseif (null === $this->context->getPropertyName()) {
+            $variables['value'] = $value;
             $variables['this'] = $value;
         } else {
             // Extract the object that the property belongs to from the object
@@ -65,7 +81,7 @@ class ExpressionValidator extends ConstraintValidator
             $root = $this->context->getRoot();
 
             $variables['value'] = $value;
-            $variables['this'] = $parentPath ? $this->propertyAccessor->getValue($root, $parentPath) : $root;
+            $variables['this'] = $parentPath ? $this->getPropertyAccessor()->getValue($root, $parentPath) : $root;
         }
 
         if (!$this->getExpressionLanguage()->evaluate($constraint->expression, $variables)) {
@@ -84,4 +100,16 @@ class ExpressionValidator extends ConstraintValidator
 
         return $this->expressionLanguage;
     }
+
+    private function getPropertyAccessor()
+    {
+        if (null === $this->propertyAccessor) {
+            if (!class_exists('Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess')) {
+                throw new RuntimeException('Unable to use expressions as the Symfony PropertyAccess component is not installed.');
+            }
+            $this->propertyAccessor = PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor();
+        }
+
+        return $this->propertyAccessor;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilder.php
index c84466d094..6f33a8d222 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilder.php
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ use Doctrine\Common\Annotations\AnnotationRegistry;
 use Doctrine\Common\Annotations\CachedReader;
 use Doctrine\Common\Annotations\Reader;
 use Doctrine\Common\Cache\ArrayCache;
-use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess;
 use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccessorInterface;
 use Symfony\Component\Translation\TranslatorInterface;
 use Symfony\Component\Validator\Context\LegacyExecutionContextFactory;
@@ -395,8 +394,7 @@ class ValidatorBuilder implements ValidatorBuilderInterface
             $metadataFactory = new ClassMetadataFactory($loader, $this->metadataCache);
         }
 
-        $propertyAccessor = $this->propertyAccessor ?: PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor();
-        $validatorFactory = $this->validatorFactory ?: new ConstraintValidatorFactory($propertyAccessor);
+        $validatorFactory = $this->validatorFactory ?: new ConstraintValidatorFactory($this->propertyAccessor);
         $translator = $this->translator ?: new DefaultTranslator();
         $apiVersion = $this->apiVersion;
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilderInterface.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilderInterface.php
index e35822e262..f13fbdda3b 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilderInterface.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/ValidatorBuilderInterface.php
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ interface ValidatorBuilderInterface
      * @param PropertyAccessorInterface $propertyAccessor The property accessor
      *
      * @return ValidatorBuilderInterface The builder object
+     *
+     * @deprecated Deprecated since version 2.5, to be removed in Symfony 3.0.
      */
     public function setPropertyAccessor(PropertyAccessorInterface $propertyAccessor);
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/composer.json b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/composer.json
index 2e97389ca5..de88ca40d8 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/composer.json
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Validator/composer.json
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@
     ],
     "require": {
         "php": ">=5.3.3",
-        "symfony/translation": "~2.0",
-        "symfony/property-access": "~2.2"
+        "symfony/translation": "~2.0"
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "symfony/http-foundation": "~2.1",
         "symfony/intl": "~2.3",
         "symfony/yaml": "~2.0",
         "symfony/config": "~2.2",
+        "symfony/property-access": "~2.2",
         "doctrine/annotations": "~1.0",
         "doctrine/cache": "~1.0",
         "egulias/email-validator": "~1.0"
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
         "symfony/yaml": "",
         "symfony/config": "",
         "egulias/email-validator": "Strict (RFC compliant) email validation"
+        "symfony/property-access": "For using the 2.4 Validator API"
     },
     "autoload": {
         "psr-0": { "Symfony\\Component\\Validator\\": "" }