Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights a Russian invasion.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka took part in an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg to open talks that will help Kyiv align with the 27-member bloc’s laws, standards and values.
“Aggression against Ukraine and threats against Europe is a permanent policy of Russia, so that’s why we need to be united,” Kachka told journalists. “That’s why we need faster and very comprehensive accession to the European Union.”
Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of it joining while the war continues.
Moldova also officially launched its membership talks. Russia has long tried to keep the country within its orbit, and last year Moscow was accused of waging a disinformation campaign driven by artificial intelligence during elections. EU values and principles are first up
Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, from agriculture to taxation and energy to trade, a process which can take years.
Monday’s meeting saw the opening of five key chapters — grouped as “clusters” — that underpin the values and principles on which the bloc was founded, notably the rule of law, fundamental rights and the functioning of democratic institutions.
The chapters are judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, public procurement, and statistics and financial control. The cluster is important for some EU countries that worry about Ukraine’s ability and willingness to fight corruption.
Last month, two national agencies fighting corruption named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff as an official suspect in a major graft investigation, but they said the Ukrainian leader was not under suspicion.
Some countries want Ukraine to join quickly
Some European countries have pushed to get Ukraine in the bloc as quickly as possible. They see Ukraine as vital to Europe’s security and have helped bolster its armed forces.
Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged his EU partners to consider offering Ukraine “associate membership” to help breathe new life into talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia.
Other countries — France and the Netherlands among them — have suggested work-arounds to bring Ukraine into the fold more quickly but without the rights of full membership.
[Slow clap…]
Spoken with a true ignorance… kinda impressive.
As someone who’s been shipping compression bandages and body armor for Ukrainians and their dogs (call me a supporter?) since the start of this war, yours sounds like the least informed take on this whole thing.
I really don’t want to get into my personal affairs, but I have been volunteering every year since the start of the war. I study Ukrainian, have lived there for extensive periods of time. The fucking smugness… the fucking reddit brain of your response is fucking staggering. Slow fucking clap??? How fucking old are you???
Most Ukrainians want their fucking nukes back after the west FUCKED them with the Budapest memorandum. When the war started I was more alone in my opinions the the America is not a true ally, and further, the EU is marginally better. But after four plus years, most Ukrainians agree with me. They agree because it’s a fucking fact. The EU literally treats most Eastern European members like second class citizens. What action they have taken up to this point has mainly been as a fear response, that if Ukraine falls then the eastern part of the EU is next. The fact that Ukraine is a sovereign nation and has the right to exists on its own is FAR down the list of reasons as to why there is any assistance. If in some parallel universe it was Kazakhstan being invaded… Well the EU, and indeed the rest of the west WOULD NOT GIVE A FLYING FUCK.
And these are conversations I have in person, face to face with Ukrainians and volunteers from all over the EU and North/Central/South America.
You could engage in discourse and bring ONE FUCKING SALIENT POINT… but you fucking come at me with smug, petty, empty keyboard warrior shit. FUCK YOU and your virtue signalling nonsense. Get back to me when you have had iskandr out your window. When you have seen a shahed in person. When you heard an old lady burn to death in her fucking apartment. When you show up the next day to shovel the glass and debris.
I appreciate you taking some time to drop ship some goods, but seriously. Shove it up your fucking ass.
Okay, way waaaay to much to deal with here…
So to start… to even try to start…
I have packed hockey bags full of first aid for Ukrainians when the conflict started. I have spent thousands of dollars in first aid as well as body armor. I’ve trained individuals going abroad to handle whatever it is you’re whining about…:
Do you know what it takes to source, fit, and ship proper body armor for dogs or other folks?
I know it has nothing to do with the subject at hand. And I know that my volunteering over there also has nothing to do with the subject at hand.
Feel free to offer something germane to the post. Policy. History.
The bottom line of my original post is very clear. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Full stop. The EU and the West have proven to be shit allies for the past 20 years. The EU will have far more to gain from Ukraine than the other way around. And it’s going to be doubly complicated because every major country in the EU currently either has a fascist in power or has a fascist movement nipping at the fucking heels of the incumbents.
Ukraine is going to get to a point where they can stand on their own two feet with a proper military force. And they should be left the fuck alone and allowed to do so. Nukes and all. Ukraine has not been given a proper time frame to sort out their long-standing political corruption issues stemming all the way from the fall of the Soviet Union.
Despite the war and everything, they are actually still making strides. So if anything, they need to win the war and be left the fuck alone to stand up on their own two feet. And they will. They’ve shown the world that they will.
If you have anything to say to the contrary, besides talking about your fucking hockey bags, I’m more than willing to listen. Other than that, shut the fuck up and move on. Героям слава.