Faster EU accession for Ukraine? Political resistance is growing

“That would be unfair and unjust”

Not only are EU countries such as Hungary and Slovakia already announcing resistance to such accession, the EU Parliament is also concerned about the possible rapid U-turn in the EU Commission. “That would be unfair and unjust”says something like Reinhold Lopatka, ÖVP parliamentary group leader in the EU Parliament: “There should not be such a special regulation.”

Only possible security guarantee

The idea – like so many ideas at the moment – came to Europe across the Atlantic. Donald Trump brought Ukraine’s rapid accession to the EU into play for the first time a few weeks ago. It is intended to make the inevitable cession of territory to Russia through a possible peace treaty acceptable to the Ukrainians.

president Wolodymyr Selenskij needs security guarantees for his country in order to make Russia wary of a new attack. The Kremlin would never accept joining NATO, Zelensky’s original wish, and the Americans do not want to put up a military protective umbrella from the USA over Ukraine. So only that remains EU accession, which Zelenskiy could sell to his compatriots as a success. However, this would have to be carried out quickly, not as a bureaucratic process lasting years and decades, as is the case with the current EU accession candidates in the Western Balkans.

Accession turned on its head

The EU Commission is preparing several procedures in the background for this fast-track procedure, which, at least according to the White House’s opinion, could be completed with EU accession at the end of 2027. The currently most likely variant: The EU will in principle accept Ukraine as a member, but the country will only be allowed to play an active role in those political issues for which it has already adopted the relevant chapters of the EU treaties and put them into force.

Exactly the opposite of what has been the case so far and is currently being done in the states of the Western Balkans. The current favorites for rapid EU accession, Albania and Montenegro, are currently laboriously working through these chapters.

The EU’s absorption capacity is overwhelmed

The fact that Ukraine would suddenly pass them by would certainly not be acceptable to them. This is exactly what EU MP Lopatka, who is politically supporting the accession of the two countries, emphasizes. The EU’s absorption capacity would also be overwhelmed at the moment. Helmut Brandstätter, a Neos MEP, also doesn’t believe in a Ukraine in the fast lane: “Now we’re taking Ukraine in – and the Western Balkans are still waiting. I can’t imagine that.” According to Brandstätter, the basic prerequisite for joining Ukraine would be a change to the EU constitution. Unanimity in important decisions, for example, which gives countries like Hungary the right to veto, must go: “We won’t get anywhere with that.”

It looks completely different Tobias Cremer, EU representative of the German SPD. Cremer, who has just returned from Kiev, is clearly still under the impression of the heavy Russian air raids on the Ukrainian capital. The situation has never been as bad as it is now in four years of war. Russia’s actions are “state terrorism”. For the SPD member, Ukraine’s accession to the EU is a “geopolitical question”. The extension is “the EU’s sharpest sword” and if this wants to prove political ability to act, “Then we have to get this done as quickly as possible.” However, it currently seems unlikely that there will be a majority for this in the EU Parliament. Among the Russia-friendly “Patriots for Europe,” which includes the FPÖ, the EU Commission’s considerations alone are causing open outrage. FPÖ parliamentary group leader Harald Vilimsky makes this very clear in a few words: “We have a clear no. The EU Commission is proving once again what a mess it is.”