Fast-Tracking Ukraine’s EU Membership: European Leaders Push Back

For once, a handful of European establishment officials are pushing the same line as the majority of citizens—that Ukraine should not be able to join the EU through an accelerated accession process. Especially not one that bypasses established membership criteria.

Perhaps egged on by leading figures in Brussels talking about “preparing a home” for Ukraine in the EU, and how this “work is rapidly advancing,” Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday set 2027 as “a concrete date” for accession.

But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed back against this haste on Wednesday, describing Ukraine joining the bloc on January 1st, 2027, as being “out of the question. It’s impossible.”

We can gradually bring Ukraine closer to the European Union along the way. That is always possible, but such rapid accession is simply not feasible.

Bavarian premier Markus Söder also said that while he backs bringing Ukraine “closer to Europe … we clearly reject a quick EU accession. Admission with a timeline up to 2027 would overwhelm the European Union and jeopardise its internal cohesion.”

It is worth remembering here Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that accession could take “several decades.”

Responding to Zelensky on Thursday morning, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel said: “I am sorry, I also told him several times: don’t give ultimatums. It is not in your interest. There are rules that we need to fulfill.”

There has also been much pushback from Hungary, which has been at the forefront of highlighting ongoing corruption scandals in Kyiv. Balázs Orbán, who is political director of the Hungarian prime minister said earlier this week that a rushed accession “poses an immediate and direct threat to Europeans and Hungarians alike—which is why the patriotic government will resist it.”