6 July 2022

Granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in June 2022 was an important and worthwhile step taken by the EU. Yet, as currently devised, the accession process is long, complex, process-oriented, and ridden with uncertainties.

The scepticism about the EU’s expansion in many European capitals, rooted in their view of the EU as a federal state in the making, risks creating expectations in countries such as Ukraine, which may later be disappointed and erode the goodwill that the EU continues to enjoy in its neighbourhood.

To prevent such a situation, the widest possible range of benefits of an EU membership, including full market access, should be extended to Ukraine upfront, instead of following the traditional formal timeline for accession negotiations.