Merz proposes 'associate membership' for Ukraine before full EU accession – media
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed accelerating Ukraine's path toward the European Union by introducing an "associate membership" status before full accession.
That is according to Euractiv, Ukrinform reports.
"We do not have time for further delays. [...] It is now time to boldly move on with Ukraine's EU integration through innovative solutions as immediate steps forward," Merz wrote in a letter on Wednesday to European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Under the German proposal, the war-torn country should join first as an "associate member" giving it the right to participate in councils of EU leaders and ministers without the right to vote.
According to the report, Merz discussed his ideas with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and EU leaders at an informal summit in Cyprus in April.
"My aim would be to reach an agreement soon," Merz wrote, stressing that this would not be a mere "membership light."
The new model would give Ukraine the right to a European commissioner post without portfolio or voting rights, associated MEPs without voting rights, and the right to speak at important meetings, while it continues a parallel path to full membership by carrying out domestic reforms in areas such as rule-of-law and minority rights.
The German proposal is an attempt to inject dynamism into a moribund debate in EU circles about how to accelerate the expansion of the bloc to Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans, including frontrunners Montenegro and Albania.
According to the report, developments in the U.S.-led Ukraine-Russia peace talks late last year sparked frantic brainstorming in Brussels because of the imminent prospect that a deal could oblige the EU to accept Ukraine as a member as early as 2027. It is also something Zelensky has openly pressed for.
There was a big expectation in policy circles that the European Commission would propose a review of the way enlargement works in the spring. However, since then the enlargement debate has hit a slump.
Ambassadors to the EU's 27 countries shot down a radical idea from the European Commission to fully swallow Ukraine into the bloc first, known as "reverse enlargement."
Since then the discussions have gone largely underground, bar some light tweaks suggested by countries who push for the Western Balkans to be integrated more quickly.
Enlargement has dropped off the agenda of EU leaders who were supposed to discuss it substantially at summits in March and April. The same goes for the next summit in June.
The heads of the EU institutions have also been reluctant to stamp a deadline on Ukraine's entry, despite public entreaties from Zelensky. If peace talks pick up pace again, the EU would be under pressure to have an answer for Ukraine.
"We are all aware that accession will not happen in a couple of years, certainly not this decade," a German government official told the outlet. "But it's an intermediate step on the way to membership and we feel it's a booster for negotiations."
The ultimate objective remains Ukraine's full integration into the EU, the official added.
However, EU countries such as Austria, grouped together in an informal club called the Friends of the Western Balkans, are opposed to treating Ukraine differently from countries that have been in the EU's waiting line for many more years.