In the waiting period: the EU refused to allow Ukraine to enter bypassing the procedures

The topic of Kiev's accelerated integration into the EU is no longer being raised, the head of the delegation for relations with Ukraine in the European Parliament, Pekka Tovery, told Izvestia. Previously, Germany and France offered partial entry bypassing the existing rules. At the same time, the EU plans to open all clusters of negotiations with Ukraine by the end of the year, Tovery said. Experts point out that economic issues and the problem of corruption will cause the most problems. However, the EU will try to bring Kiev up to the standards of unification, according to the Bundestag.

Negotiations between Ukraine and the EU

Back in the spring, several options appeared at once for Ukraine's accession to the European Union, bypassing the classical regulations. For example, the German proposal provided for a certain status of an "associate member" of the association without the right to vote. France talked about the format of an "integrated state" with access to finance. Earlier, European media reported on the preparation of a plan for Ukraine's admission to the community as early as 2027.

Photo: Global Look Press/Michael Kappeler

However, the scenario of the country's rapid accession to the union is not being discussed, Kiev must implement the necessary reforms to join, the head of the Ukraine–EU parliamentary Cooperation committee in the European Parliament, Pekka Tovery, told Izvestia.

— I don't think the accelerated path is on the agenda. We are talking about merit—based membership, which, of course, can be quite fast if Ukraine can quickly implement the necessary reforms," the politician said.

According to him, the EU plans to open all six negotiating clusters on Ukraine's accession by the end of the year. Although earlier representatives of the European Commission promised to launch a dialogue on all of them in July. At the moment, only two of the six clusters are open. They are thematic blocks in which 33 areas of negotiations are summarized. As soon as the candidate country brings its legislation in line with the European one, the corresponding cluster is closed.

Photo: Global Look Press/Michael Runkel

And here Kiev has few prospects. Budapest threatens to block the negotiations if Ukraine does not amend the law on the rights of the Hungarian minority by the end of 2027. Recall that the previous Hungarian government under the leadership of Viktor Orban was categorically opposed to Ukraine's membership in the EU and in every possible way delayed the negotiation process. Budapest pointed to Kiev's unpreparedness and the threat of a direct clash with Russia. That is why European officials were able to launch negotiation clusters only in 2026, after the change of power, although Ukraine received candidate status four years ago.

The European Commission constantly avoids announcing a specific date. Kiev's accession to the EU will require the consensus of all the states of the union. There is currently no consensus on this issue. The main supporters of Ukraine's European integration remain the Baltic and Northern European countries. In particular, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda offered to promise Ukraine EU membership in 2030. Poland was previously in this camp, but after the scandal with the glorification of nationalists, Warsaw's position may change.

Photo: Global Look Press/Wilfried Wirth

Slovakia opposes Ukraine's accession to the EU until the end of the conflict with Russia, Izvestia wrote earlier. Other members of the European Union speak out in the spirit that Kiev should go all the way to the EU and only then join the union. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro are still waiting for their turn. In addition, Moldova, Georgia and Turkey have been granted candidate status, but they have even fewer prospects. Kosovo is considered a potential candidate, but five EU countries do not recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republic.

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Problems of Ukraine's European integration

The two negotiation clusters opened by the European Union are political, since there are few prerequisites for real practical work in the field of economics, Egor Sergeev, senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, noted in an interview with Izvestia. The second cluster (the internal market), the third (competitiveness), the fourth (the green agenda) and the fifth (resources, agriculture and cohesion) have not yet been discussed.

The issue of agriculture remains a stumbling block in relations between Ukraine and the European Union. In 2025, three years later, Brussels returned quotas for the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia imposed an embargo on grain imports back in 2023. Such protectionism is explained very simply: the free sale of cheap Ukrainian agricultural products threatens European farmers with bankruptcy. Restrictions also apply in other industries: in June, the EU reduced the quota for imports of Ukrainian steel.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko

In order to join the EU, Ukraine will most likely have to reduce the production of certain types of products in order not to violate European limits. In addition, enterprises will have to switch to EU regulations. This will require a lot of time and resources, while Ukraine's national debt exceeds 100% of GDP, and a significant part of the budget is made up of external sources. Egor Sergeev believes that as the negotiations progress, there will only be more contradictions and critical countries.

In political terms, meeting the criteria also leaves big questions. For example, the Ukrainian unified telethon violates basic European legislation in the field of freedom of speech and political pluralism. The project was launched in February 2022 to continuously inform citizens about the situation in the country. Controversies quickly arose around it, most often its creators are accused of bias and discrepancies between reports and reality, but Kiev is not going to close it. The problem of corruption has not been solved: another scandal last year led to the resignation of the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Ermak, and a number of Ukrainian businessmen and politicians fled abroad.

Andrey Ermak

Photo: RIA Novosti

Steffen Kotre, a member of the German parliament from the AFD party, confirmed to Izvestia that the organizational structures of Ukraine's government and the level of corruption do not meet the necessary framework for joining the EU. However, the leadership of the association no longer adheres to its own criteria for the admission of States. This was also pointed out by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico when he said that Kiev should not bypass candidates who are already well prepared for accession — Albania, Serbia and Montenegro.

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Russia has never objected to Ukraine's membership in the European Union, considering this decision to be Kiev's sovereign choice. Moscow considers Ukraine's accession to NATO to be a threat to its security, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed. At the same time, Moscow opposes the European Union becoming a military bloc, which is what everything is rapidly moving towards.