EU countries have rejected idea of "advance accession" for Ukraine, - Politico
Most European Union countries did not support the idea of granting Ukraine so-called "advance accession" or "reverse" membership as part of the current peace talks, fearing that such a reform would undermine confidence in the accession process.
This was reported by Politico and Euronews, citing their sources, according to Censor.NET.
What is known?
Ukraine's hopes for accelerating the EU accession process were dashed during a dinner in Brussels, where EU ambassadors informed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that member states would not support the Commission's controversial proposal for "reverse enlargement."
This resistance effectively closes the "membership first, integration later" model that the executive branch had been promoting in an effort to bring Ukraine into the EU by 2027.
Even before that, "several key capitals", which are not named, coordinated a fairly tough position on this issue.
- Under the "reverse" model, Ukraine would become a formal member of the EU, but without access to most of the benefits — such as voting rights, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and regional "cohesion" funds.
What do EU diplomats say?
One of the diplomats present at the meeting described the atmosphere at the dinner as "normal," but also noted that the signal from the capitals of the member states was unambiguous.
"It’s done. Reverse enlargement isn’t going anywhere," commented another European diplomat.
Four other diplomats confidently rejected the idea that "reverse enlargement" could be viable for Ukraine or any other candidate country.
"They (the European Commission) have created false hopes. Now, we have to correct that and tell them: ‘Well, actually, this reverse enlargement is dead on arrival,'" commented one of the interlocutors.
"We want to anchor Ukraine in the EU … but we cannot tear up our procedures and scrap the merit-based system. The point is to find a realistic way forward," added another diplomat.
