The challenge now is not whether Ukraine belongs in Europe but whether the EU can design a path that matches the historical and geopolitical imperative, Ivan Nagornyak and Fredrik Wesslau (European Policy Institute, Kyiv) write in a new op-ed in Foreign Policy.
In the article, the authors argue for a “membership light” version of EU accession for Ukraine, and chart three potential pathways to reach it. The first one would be an upgrade of Ukraine’s 2017 EU association agreement, mirroring the situation in the European Economic Area.
The second one is a kind of “accession-in-waiting,” signing an accession treaty but deferring its entry into force until certain conditions are met.
The third one would require changing the EU Treaty and creating a second tier of EU membership.
According to the authors, “the upgraded association model is the easiest for Brussels. Treaty change is the boldest option but politically improbable. The acceding state model sits in between—legally orthodox, politically meaningful, and strategically credible.”
“The real choice facing Kyiv and Brussels is not between fast and slow accession. It is between meaningful integration with political clarity on the one hand and symbolic shortcuts that breed disillusionment on the other.”
Read the article here (behind paywall).