EU declines to speculate on Ukraine's entry date amid reports of 2027 push
The EU considers Ukraine's accession efforts part of the ongoing peace process but does not speculate on possible entry dates, a European Commission spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent on Feb. 10.
The comments follow Politico's reporting that the EU is drafting a plan for Ukraine to join the bloc as early as 2027, albeit without full membership rights.
The "early-stage" five-step proposal is allegedly intended to help anchor Kyiv more firmly within the European bloc and further from Russia, whose full-scale invasion is approaching its fourth anniversary.
President Volodymyr Zelensky previously set next year as the target date for Ukraine's entry into the bloc.
"It is clear that EU integration can contribute to our common objective: securing peace and prosperity for Ukraine," the Commission spokesperson said.
However, the spokesperson stressed that the accession process is driven by reforms and evaluated against the conditions laid out in EU treaties.
According to Politico's sources, the plan would entail helping Ukraine press forward with reforms while a new accession framework is developed — one that would enable countries to join at the outset of the reform process rather than only after completing it.
"When it comes to the accession talks with Ukraine, despite the very challenging war context, we have seen steady progress, as highlighted in the latest enlargement report. This level of determination needs to be sustained in the long run," the spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent.
During an EU meeting in Lviv in December, the European Commission and Ukraine agreed to advance the technical side of the process, even as Hungary continues to block the opening of the accession clusters.
Overcoming opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is broadly regarded as the most Kremlin-friendly EU leader, is a key part of the plan reported by Politico.
Proposals under discussion reportedly include simply waiting for Orban to be voted out in the April parliamentary elections, stripping Hungary of its voting rights under Article 7 of the EU treaty, or convincing U.S. President Donald Trump — Orban's ideological ally — to guarantee that no one will block the potential deal.
But the rift over a fast-tracked accession for Ukraine goes beyond Hungary.
While European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said that many member states support accelerating Ukraine's accession, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — head of the EU's largest economy — said that the 2027 entry date is "out of the question."
