Member-only story
Will Ukraine Belong to the EU?
Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 2022, both the European Union and Ukraine have shown strong support for the eventual Ukrainian membership in the EU.
Despite our hopes for Ukraine, however, there are good reasons to believe that Ukrainian membership is years away.
When we take into account the moral failings of the executive branch, corruption in the judiciary, restrictions toward the media, and a host of other criteria, Ukraine falls short of the EU’s professed values. And changing in accordance with those values may prove long and taxing.
There are two reasons Ukrainian hope for membership has changed:
- the near unilateral support from EU Member States (26 out of 27 majority in support), and
- overwhelming Ukrainian support for EU membership (at least 86%).
Europe was not always as ardently supportive of Ukrainian membership. Even in light of the turbulent events in Maidan and the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea, only a slight majority of Europeans were in favor of Ukrainian accession into the EU.
According to a German Marshall Fund poll, conducted in June 2014 and released on September 10 2014, only 52% of Europeans were in favor of Ukraine joining the EU. The most support was seen from Poland (69%), Spain…
