EU ambassadors reject fast-track Ukraine accession plan
EU ambassadors on March 5 pushed back against a proposal to fast-track Ukraine's entry into the European Union, rejecting a European Commission idea known as "reverse enlargement," Politico reported.
The proposal would have allowed Ukraine to formally join the EU first and gradually receive full membership privileges afterward, in an effort to bring Kyiv into the bloc by 2027.
But diplomats said EU member states firmly opposed the idea during a meeting of ambassadors.
"It's done. Reverse enlargement isn’t going anywhere," one diplomat said, adding that the Commission will now have to reconsider the proposal.
Another senior diplomat criticized the idea for raising unrealistic expectations: "They have created false hopes. Now we have to correct that and tell them: actually, this reverse enlargement was dead on arrival," the diplomat said.
Several member states insisted the EU should continue following its traditional accession framework rather than altering the process for Ukraine. "We want to anchor Ukraine in the EU, but we cannot tear up our procedures and scrap the merit-based system," another diplomat said.
"The point is to find a realistic way forward," the diplomat added, referring to the need to balance political sensitivities among member states.
According to Politico, EU leaders are expected to reaffirm the bloc's standard, merit-based accession process at the upcoming European Council meeting of March 19, 2026, effectively shelving the Commission's proposal.
Still, Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner, defended calls for new thinking about expansion. She argued that the current model was "designed for a stable, rules-based world that no longer exists."
Ukraine has made EU membership a key element of its long-term security strategy and has raised the issue in discussions about a potential peace settlement. President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said he would not sign a peace agreement with the United States, Russia, and Europe if it did not include a specific date for Ukraine's EU accession.
In late January, Zelensky set 2027 as the target date for Ukraine's entry into the bloc. The timeline has drawn mixed reactions among EU member states, including both supporters and skeptics of Ukraine's path toward membership.
Ukraine applied to join the EU in February 2022, just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Kyiv received candidate status later that year and the EU formally opened accession talks in 2024.
