Policy brief “Accession of Ukraine to the EU – What now? What next?” by Leonid Litra is available in English here.

More than ever before, the EU has the power to transform Ukraine, despite the fact that the state is caught up in the war with Russia. The EU’s provision of military support for Ukraine succeeded in keeping Ukraine afloat and safeguarded the reforms that had been implemented before the war began. The EU needs to scale up its military support to ensure that Ukraine can respond to Russia’s war of attrition without sidelining the EU-related reforms.

At the same time, the diligent implementation of the seven steps laid out by the EU, together with the candidate status, ticks all the boxes for the EU to start of the accession negotiations with Ukraine. A failure on the Council’s part to do so at its December meeting could result in setbacks in the reform process and alienate Ukrainians. Everyone, including the EU, stands to gain from the opening of accession talks with Ukraine. All the stakeholders would gain greater leverage over the reform process.