EU leaders flew out of Cyprus on Friday, leaving Ukraine with little to celebrate. At the closing press conference of the informal European Council on 24 April they ruled out any fast-track to membership for the battered candidate.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had tried to inject momentum into the matter as the summit wrapped up. “I have proposed that we now begin a process within the European Union involving a strategy to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union, the ultimate goal of which should, of course, be full membership,” he told reporters earlier in the day.
His idea of partial entry—seats at European Council, Parliament and Commission meetings without voting rights—never made it into the summit’s oral conclusions. Most leaders applauded Kyiv’s reform grit but refused to bend the accession rules.
Rules are rules are rules
Ursula von der Leyen, reminded everyone of the contract that governs enlargement. “If you are a candidate country, it’s hard reforms that the candidate countries have to do,” she said. The Commission president insisted that delivery unlocks progress, not diplomatic sympathy. “If they deliver on the reforms, they have a certain right to move forward in the process,” she said. Yet that right does not shorten the queue.
António Costa, President of the European Council, joined the reality check. “Look, in June 2022, we approved by unanimity to give the statute of candidate country to Ukraine.” He praised Kyiv’s legislative pace under fire, then lowered expectations. “It’s not the end of the process. It’s a long process, a very hard one.”
You might be interested
Mr Merz had hoped to break the stalemate by carving out limited single-market access for selected Ukrainian goods, a scheme that might also entice the Western Balkan hopefuls. The chancellor claimed “strong support” for the outline, yet behind closed doors ministers bristled. France worries about precedent. Poland, once Ukraine’s loudest cheerleader, fears agricultural competition. Smaller Baltic states may even see the plan as a distraction from weapons deliveries.
Ms von der Leyen chose procedure over improvisation. “In the very end, it is a political decision by all member states, because by unanimity, you have to then decide on accession.” The treaty leaves no loophole for halfway house status. Privileges without obligations, Brussels reasons, would dilute the union’s legal order and anger other candidates.
Merit matters
The Commission instead trumpeted recent progress: “I want to say explicitly that Ukraine, in the last month specifically, has worked very, very hard and delivered through the rada, important reforms to unlock, for example, European funding.” Cash, not club rights, will remain the reward.
Mr Costa repeated the mantra of merit. “But we cannot try to fix artificial moments, saying it is in the three months, or in 10 years.” Enlargement accelerated when geopolitics called, but leaders now fear stretching institutions already strained by rule-of-law rows. They also juggle nine parallel negotiations, including Moldova and six Balkan aspirants. Ukraine, bigger than all of them combined, may well up-end the budget and voting weights.
If you are a candidate country, it’s hard reforms that the candidate countries have to do. — Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President
That does not mean Europe slams the door. Leaders pledged to keep macro-financial aid flowing and to expand duty-free quotas on selected imports. Mr Costa argued that a larger single market boosts growth and strategic heft. “But we believe in the future of Ukraine and we believe that the future of Ukraine is in the European Union.” For now, hope rests on patient box-ticking rather than shortcuts.
The outcome is less than shocking. Kyiv’s diplomats know that unanimity binds twenty-seven capitals and that French farmers or Dutch budget hawks can stall everything. What surprised them was the speed with which a German brainstorm fizzled. Ms von der Leyen had the last word. Enlargement, she implied, must obey its own slow logic — even when Russian shells fall on those who wait.
