- EU
Commission advances Ukraine membership technically. - Bypasses
Hungary’s block on official accession talks. - Unprecedented
move despite political opposition from Hungary.
According to the new strategy, technical progress entails
Kyiv moving forward with the reforms required to satisfy EU eligibility
requirements, and EU employees will evaluate Ukraine’s compliance with EU
standards and legislation in areas such as judicial independence. Budapest’s
veto on starting formal negotiations is circumvented in this way.
Marta Kos, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, told DW that
during an unofficial meeting in Lviv earlier this week, European affairs
ministers gave her “clear instructions” to move Ukraine’s request
forward.
“I’m very, very happy and encouraged to go even
faster in this process,”
she told DW.
Any final membership decisions will still need Hungary’s
consent, and any new nations wishing to join the union must have the unanimous
agreement of all current members.
“At some point, we will have to find
unanimity,”
Kos acknowledged when pressed on the feasibility of the
plan.
“But for the time being, for the technical part, we can go
on,”
she said on Friday.
“Ukraine doesn’t need Hungary to do the reforms. It
is a transformational process for the benefit of the whole country,”
she
added.
Moldova, a neighbor of Ukraine whose membership application
has also been mired in the EU internal impasse, will be subject to the same
procedure by the European Commission.
Following media reports that EU entry as early as 2027 is
being explored as part of a US peace plan for Ukraine, Kos was cautious not to
commit to any timetables.
“I’m very happy that this peace plan speaks about EU
accession of Ukraine. This is now the first draft. We will see what will come
out at the end,”
Kos told DW.
When exactly that is remains to be seen, she continued.
“It also depends on how quick Ukraine will be in the reforms. And it is
also connected to what our member states will say, when we will be ready to
accept Ukraine.”
Earlier this week, the European Commission and Ukraine
collaborated to develop a strategy for anti-graft reforms, with fighting
corruption being viewed as a major obstacle for Kyiv on its EU route.
Kos listed strengthening judicial screening as well as
increasing the resources and autonomy of Ukraine’s anti-corruption
organizations as potential areas for development. Kyiv’s fresh membership
proposal from the European Commission follows a corruption crisis in the nation
that made headlines across the globe.
In 2022, Hungary approved Ukraine’s official candidacy for
EU membership, but since then, Budapest has prevented Kyiv’s bid from moving
forward.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban frequently uses the
unfavorable outcome of a non-binding referendum on Ukraine’s EU membership when
publicly opposing Ukraine’s progress.
According to experts, the EU itself must undergo internal
reforms in order to accept Kyiv and other prospective members. Vetoes by
individual members can frequently cause EU decision-making to move slowly. The
bloc’s ability to operate could be further hampered by the inclusion of other
nations.
“Why should our people have to suffer the
consequences of someone else’s war? We feel for the Ukrainian people and
recognise their hardships but we will not share a fate that is not ours,”
Orban wrote on social media platform X in October.
“There are also a variety of political debates
around — and, rather legitimate concerns, I would say — about the impact of
Ukraine’s potential accession on the EU’s budget, on cohesion policy, also on
its common agricultural policy,”
researcher Teona Lavrelashvili told
DW earlier this week.
“So unless these concerns are addressed by Brussels,
also institutionally, I think that the debates will persist — and not only
Hungary, but also other member states, will not fully embrace Ukraine’s EU
accession,”
Lavrelashvili, an analyst with the center-right Wilfred
Martens Centre think tank in Brussels, said.
Kos said the European Commission would present an assessment
on the EU’s readiness to accommodate new members and “what needs to be
done” in March next year.
How will this affect Ukrainians travel and trade with the
EU?
The specialized advancement of Ukraine’s EU accession
process, including prioritized clusters and the upgraded DCFTA, promises
gradational advancements to Ukrainians’ trip and trade with the EU, though full
benefits await class.
The modernized Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area,
effective October 2025, expands tariff-free access for Ukrainian goods
especially non-agricultural while adding safeguards for sensitive EU sectors
like husbandry, boosting exports and integrating Ukraine into the Single
request over time.
Ukrainians formerly enjoy visa-free short stays, and
accession progress reinforces this via aligned norms; no immediate visa changes
do, but deeper alignment could ease long- term mobility, work permits, and
conveyance through systems like NCTS for goods.
