Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights a Russian invasion.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka took part in an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg to open talks that will help Kyiv align with the 27-member bloc’s laws, standards and values.
“Aggression against Ukraine and threats against Europe is a permanent policy of Russia, so that’s why we need to be united,” Kachka told journalists. “That’s why we need faster and very comprehensive accession to the European Union.”
Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of it joining while the war continues.
Moldova also officially launched its membership talks. Russia has long tried to keep the country within its orbit, and last year Moscow was accused of waging a disinformation campaign driven by artificial intelligence during elections. EU values and principles are first up
Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, from agriculture to taxation and energy to trade, a process which can take years.
Monday’s meeting saw the opening of five key chapters — grouped as “clusters” — that underpin the values and principles on which the bloc was founded, notably the rule of law, fundamental rights and the functioning of democratic institutions.
The chapters are judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, public procurement, and statistics and financial control. The cluster is important for some EU countries that worry about Ukraine’s ability and willingness to fight corruption.
Last month, two national agencies fighting corruption named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff as an official suspect in a major graft investigation, but they said the Ukrainian leader was not under suspicion.
Some countries want Ukraine to join quickly
Some European countries have pushed to get Ukraine in the bloc as quickly as possible. They see Ukraine as vital to Europe’s security and have helped bolster its armed forces.
Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged his EU partners to consider offering Ukraine “associate membership” to help breathe new life into talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia.
Other countries — France and the Netherlands among them — have suggested work-arounds to bring Ukraine into the fold more quickly but without the rights of full membership.
I really don't want to get into my personal affairs, but I have been volunteering every year since the start of the war. I study Ukrainian, have lived there for extensive periods of time. The fucking smugness... the fucking reddit brain of your response is fucking staggering. Slow fucking clap??? How fucking old are you???
Most Ukrainians want their fucking nukes back after the west FUCKED them with the Budapest memorandum. When the war started I was more alone in my opinions the the America is not a true ally, and further, the EU is marginally better. But after four plus years, most Ukrainians agree with me. They agree because it's a fucking fact. The EU literally treats most Eastern European members like second class citizens. What action they have taken up to this point has mainly been as a fear response, that if Ukraine falls then the eastern part of the EU is next. The fact that Ukraine is a sovereign nation and has the right to exists on its own is FAR down the list of reasons as to why there is any assistance. If in some parallel universe it was Kazakhstan being invaded... Well the EU, and indeed the rest of the west WOULD NOT GIVE A FLYING FUCK.
And these are conversations I have in person, face to face with Ukrainians and volunteers from all over the EU and North/Central/South America.
You could engage in discourse and bring ONE FUCKING SALIENT POINT... but you fucking come at me with smug, petty, empty keyboard warrior shit. FUCK YOU and your virtue signalling nonsense. Get back to me when you have had iskandr out your window. When you have seen a shahed in person. When you heard an old lady burn to death in her fucking apartment. When you show up the next day to shovel the glass and debris.
I appreciate you taking some time to drop ship some goods, but seriously. Shove it up your fucking ass.