Associated membership: will Germany’s initiative become a trap for Ukraine?
фото: Reuters
The proposal to grant Ukraine the special status of an associated member of the European Union, voiced by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has caused a mixed reaction.
On the air of “Pryamoy”, political scientist Oleg Sahakyan expressed the opinion that such an initiative reflects the real state of affairs in Europe, where a significant part of the countries has not yet shown readiness for a full-fledged expansion of the bloc due to the scale of the Ukrainian state.
“On the one hand, the European Union is politically not ready to take over Ukraine both institutionally and normatively, because this is a big challenge for the European Union,” the expert noted, analyzing the proposal of the German side.
He emphasized that for Brussels, accepting a country with such demographic and economic size is a difficult task, as the system is used to integrating much smaller players.
According to the political scientist, Germany is acting under pressure from internal circumstances and electoral threats from right-wing radical forces, but this idea should not be rejected emotionally. It is important to understand whether such a status will not become a substitute for full accession.
If associate membership opens up new security programs and financial support now, Ukraine can use this as an intermediate stage without giving up its strategic goal, says Oleg Sahakyan.
As a reminder, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested on April 27 that Ukraine may have to agree that parts of its territory may remain outside of Kyiv’s control in a future peace agreement with Russia, linking such concessions to the country’s prospects for joining the European Union.
At the same time, Merz warned against hopes for Ukraine’s quick accession to the European Union, stating that Ukraine cannot join the EU during a war and must first meet strict criteria, including those related to the rule of law and the fight against corruption.
The German Chancellor later proposed granting Ukraine a new status of “associate member” of the European Union as a temporary step towards full membership. Merz stressed that Ukraine is in a special situation due to the war, but at the same time has already made significant progress on the path to EU membership.
Meanwhile, the European Commission confirmed receipt of a letter from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz regarding the idea of Ukraine’s “associated membership” in the European Union. At the same time, it noted that Ukraine’s accession to the EU is directly related to security issues of the European Union itself.
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