Member-only story
When Will Ukraine Become an EU Member — 5, 10, or 15 years?
Europeans were overwhelmingly very pleased to hear about the fact that the EU granted Ukraine (& Moldova) candidate status in June 2022. This came as a result of a lot of public support, but also because the politicians themselves were for it.
When I was talking with the Ministry of Defense in Czechia with some friends about this issue, one asked the blatant (but warranted) question: “Behind closed doors, how many EU politicians really want Ukraine in the EU?”
“Ursula (speaking of the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen) wants them in. There’s no doubt about that. Most do,” he reassured us. Europe is on Ukraine’s side.
Despite that, there are a lot of issues Ukraine will have to resolve before they become EU Member states. I will address some of them here.
As I mentioned above, the polls on Europeans in favor of Ukraine joining the EU overwhelmingly show that they favor it, particularly in light of Russia’s large-scale invasion.
In fact, 26 out of 27 EU member states support the motion and and 86% of Ukrainians support it.
The picture was vastly different following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. According to a German Marshall Fund poll, conducted in June 2014 and released on September 10…
