There will be no quick accession of Ukraine to the EU

Merz says Ukraine's accession to the EU by 2027 is impossible

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Ukraine's accession to the European Union by 1 January 2027 is unrealistic. According to him, the EU enlargement procedure involves the mandatory fulfilment of established criteria and usually takes several years.

Berlin's position

Mertz explained that each candidate state must first fully meet the so-called Copenhagen criteria - the political, economic and legal requirements for EU membership.

According to him, Ukraine can be gradually brought closer to the standards of the Union, but rapid accession within a certain timeframe is unrealistic.

Admission procedure

The EU accession process includes:

• harmonisation of legislation with EU law;

• reforms of the judicial and anti-corruption systems;

• economic and institutional changes;

• Gradual opening of meeting clusters.

Membership negotiations usually take years, even for countries that are not at war.

Context.

Previously, the Ukrainian government has stated its political goal of moving towards EU membership as soon as possible and called 2027 a benchmark for readiness. At the same time, a number of EU countries have repeatedly stressed that the enlargement procedure cannot be accelerated outside the established rules.