EU drops forecasts for accession dates in hope Ukraine will speed up reforms

The EU has refrained from predicting when the leading EU candidate countries will complete their accession negotiations, in the hope that Ukraine will accelerate the pace of its reforms.

Source: an article by European Pravda "Less reform, more success: what the EU has promised Ukraine for 2027 and where its optimism comes from"

Details: The European Commission has so far set an expected date for signing an accession treaty only for Montenegro: June 2027. It has made no forecasts on the final accession dates for the other candidate countries.

This uncertainty remains specifically because of Ukraine.

The article notes that EU member states sent signals to the European Commission that an opportunity should be left for Kyiv to accelerate its progress.

Quote from the article: "After all, Ukraine is currently lagging behind Moldova. The European Commission agreed that it would be politically incorrect to make an assessment suggesting that Moldova would join the EU sooner.

Emphasising further that Moldova would be ready for accession before Ukraine would be politically unwise. After all, the EU is ready to demonstrate in every possible way its desire to bring Ukraine into this enlargement wave, should reforms make progress."

Background:

• On 4 November, the European Commission published its annual enlargement package, assessing the progress of 10 EU candidate countries and placing Ukraine among the four countries that have made the greatest progress.
• The Ukraine report showed that the European Commission's improved assessment of Ukraine's progress towards EU membership, particularly in anti-corruption, was achieved not thanks to, but despite the actions of the authorities.

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