EU ambassadors oppose accelerated accession for Ukraine – Politico
Ukrinform reports this, citing Politico.
"The EU ambassadors told Ursula von der Leyen chief of staff that member countries would not accept the Commission's controversial 'reverse enlargement' proposal. The resistance effectively shuts down the 'membership first, integration later' model that the executive was pushing in a bid to have Ukraine join the EU by 2027," the article stated.
The decision did not come as a surprise, as several key EU capitals had previously voiced a tough stance on Ukraine's accession.
"Reverse enlargement" would involve granting membership first and then gradually expanding privileges afterward.
Politico reports that this was one of four options circulated by the Commission ahead of the Wednesday dinner.
One diplomat described the atmosphere of the dinner as "normal,v but said the message from national capitals was sharp.
"It’s done. Reverse enlargement isn't going anywhere," another diplomat said, adding that the Commission will have to rethink the idea.
Four other EU diplomats also firmly rejected reverse enlargement as a viable strategy for Ukraine, or for any other country.
"They have created false hopes," one senior diplomat said. "Now we have to correct that and tell them: actually, this reverse enlargement was dead on arrival."
A draft of the conclusions for the upcoming European Council meeting on March 19 mentions both the dispute over a loan for Ukraine and the debate over EU enlargement.
Leaders are expected to support the EU's traditional merit-based accession approach, reflecting the capitals' desire to stick to the existing system. This would make the European Commission's hopes for rapid Ukrainian accession "stone dead," according to Politico's sources.
"We want to anchor Ukraine in the EU, but we cannot tear up our procedures and scrap the merit-based system," another diplomat said. "The point is to find a realistic way forward."
Journalists at Politico note that "realistic" means a path that takes into account the political sensitivities of certain EU member states.
On the day of the ambassadors' meeting, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos attended a discussion in Berlin, where she defended the need for new thinking about EU enlargement.
She noted that the current model dates back to the accession of Spain and Portugal more than 40 years ago and was "designed for a stable, rules-based world that no longer exists."
A senior EU official told Politico that the topic of enlargement came up at the ambassadors' meeting largely "because of the fuss created by wild ideas."
Nathalie Loiseau, a member of the European Parliament from the Renew Europe group, was equally blunt, warning that such an approach risks creating "confusion in member states and disappointment in candidate countries."
Another section of the draft conclusions for the upcoming European Council meeting states that leaders "welcome the adoption of the loan [for Ukraine for 2026–2027] by the co-legislators and look forward to the first disbursement."
Meanwhile, the dispute over a pipeline, which Hungary has linked to its veto of a €90-billion loan for Ukraine, continues.
Politico reports that behind the scenes several member states have asked Ukraine to allow inspectors access to the pipeline to assess the damage, but they allegedly received a refusal.
"Ukraine is insisting it needs time to assess the scale of the damage," several EU diplomats told the outlet.
As Ukrinform previously reported, the chief spokesperson of the European Commission, Paula Pinho, recently said that the EU cannot independently determine the exact date of Ukraine's accession because this would violate the candidate country's "merit-based principle."
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