OSLO: The European Union is eager to begin Ukraine’s EU membership talks “as soon as possible”, European Council president Antonio Costa said Thursday, though he stopped short of setting a date.
The US plan for an end to the war in Ukraine calls for Kyiv’s EU accession by January 2027, though experts generally consider that date highly unrealistic.
“We want that, as soon as possible, we could formally open the negotiations and move forward on this enlargement process,” Costa told reporters during a visit to Oslo.
“I cannot say if it’s in 2027 or even in 2026 or later, but what is important is we cannot lose the momentum,” he said.
Kyiv applied for EU membership just months after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, hoping for a rapid integration.
The application process usually takes many years.
“What is very impressive is (that) Ukraine, in spite of this terrible war that they are facing, they are delivering the reforms that they need to be a full member of the European Union,” Costa said.
Asked about the possibility that Brussels could offer Kyiv a limited, so-called “EU light” membership, he recalled that “there are rules for the accession process.”
“The candidate member states need to fulfil these criteria,” he said, referring to the so-called Copenhagen criteria adopted in 1993.
Accession must also be approved by all EU member states, and Hungary, led by prime minister Viktor Orban, is openly hostile to Ukraine’s candidacy.
Costa recalled however that Budapest gave the green light to Ukraine’s candidate status in 2022.
The record for the fastest conclusion of EU membership talks is currently held by Finland, which joined the bloc three years after submitting its application.
Turkey is at the other end of the scale. It submitted its application almost 30 years ago, but its talks remain frozen.
