European Commission comments on Merz's proposal for "associate membership" for Ukraine in EU

Tetyana Vysotska, Ulyana Krychkovska, Anastasia Protz - 21 May, 15:09

Ukrainian and EU flags. Photo: Getty Images

The European Commission has confirmed that it received a letter from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz regarding a possible new status for Ukraine ahead of full EU membership and said the issue should be discussed at the level of the European Council.

Source: a European Pravda correspondent in Brussels, citing a European Commission spokesperson

Details: The European Commission spokesperson said that the EU had "indeed received the letter from Chancellor Merz".

"We welcome the fact that this discussion is taking place among member states. And we encourage this discussion to advance at the level of the European Council," he stated.

The spokesperson believes this demonstrates that "there is a strong commitment also from member states to make enlargement a reality as soon as possible".

Quote: "It is increasingly clear that enlargement is a geostrategic investment in our prosperity, peace and security. And Ukraine's accession to the European Union is also fundamentally linked to the security of our Union."

Details: The spokesperson stressed the importance of completing the EU enlargement process "with all the candidate countries that have been working towards accession for many years".

Quote: "Any innovative solutions should also be driven by the merit-based process. Looking forward we need to make sure that our approach to enlargement is fit for purpose."

Background:

Merz has proposed the idea of "associate membership" in the EU for Ukraine as a temporary status that would partly address Kyiv's desire for rapid accession. He outlined the proposal in a letter to other European leaders.
This is not the first proposal for a form of "partial accession" intended to bridge the gap between Ukraine's push for swift membership and the EU's determination to maintain the full accession procedure without exceptions that could create problems in the future.
Discussions about a form of "accession in advance" for Ukraine were unofficially reported in February 2026.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine is not interested in incomplete membership of the EU.

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