FT: Fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU accession is a trap set by Putin and Trump

The European Commission is developing a plan for Ukraine to join the EU under a simplified procedure after the war, a move that is alarming some European capitals. Some politicians believe that fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession is a trap set by Washington and Moscow.

This view was voiced by diplomats interviewed by the Financial Times.

A draft peace agreement envisages EU membership as early as 2027, but European officials believe Ukraine could need a decade of reforms to meet the bloc’s strict criteria.

Brussels is proposing to bring Ukraine in with limited decision-making powers. In particular, Kyiv would initially not have the usual voting rights at leaders’ summits and ministers’ meetings. Ukraine would be gradually granted access to parts of the single market, the bloc’s agricultural subsidies, and internal development funding once it reaches certain milestones.

Supporters of these steps justify them as a response to the demands of the moment.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures… We are not undermining the enlargement process. We are expanding the concept of enlargement… The rules were written more than 30 years ago. And they need to be more flexible. This is a once-in-a-generation moment, and we must seize it,” one diplomat told the newspaper.

At the same time, other diplomats fear that changing the rules in this way could harm the EU’s future stability, reduce the value of membership, and provoke resentment among other candidate countries.

“This is a trap set by Putin and Trump, and we are falling into it,” one EU diplomat said, citing the risk to the bloc’s unity.

Another senior official said it would lead to a damaging split between Brussels and member states.

“Try to force this on member states and they will never accept it,” the FT source said.

At the same time, European Commission officials, the paper writes, understand that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be able to accept other conditions of a possible peace deal—such as ceding territory to Russia—only if he can present accelerated EU membership as a positive outcome of the agreements.

Earlier, European sources had already told the newspaper that rapidly admitting Ukraine into the EU would “turn upside down the bloc’s merit-based approach to accepting new members,” since Kyiv has not yet officially completed a single one of the 36 accession stages and has not carried out many of the required reforms.