Panel 2: Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia — the next steps on the road to EU accession

“Ukraine has made signif­icant progress in imple­menting EU reforms despite the war” (Oleksii Makeiev)

Despite the war, Ukraine has made signif­icant progress in imple­menting EU reforms noted Ambas­sador Makeiev. There is a great expec­tation among the population that the EU accession negoti­a­tions will take place this year. This would fulfil the European dream of the Ukrainian people.

The Chair of the EU committee of the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter (Bündnis 90/​Die Grünen) said that the democ­ratic centre of the German parliament was united with regard to EU enlargement. By admitting the Western Balkan countries, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, the European single market would become larger. In view of the growing number of dicta­tor­ships, we have an intrinsic interest in Europe becoming bigger and stronger.

“Reform and enlargement of the EU should take place in parallel”  (Tilmann Kuban)

The EU itself should do its homework just as much as the accession countries, stressed CDU politician Tilmann Kuban. Reform and enlargement should take place in parallel. Thomas Hacker, spokesman for the FDP parlia­mentary group, expressed confi­dence in the speedy opening of accession negoti­a­tions with Ukraine and Moldova, but was less optimistic about Georgia.

Christian Petry, European policy spokesperson of the SPD parlia­mentary group, stressed that the EU enlargement strategy should be less reserved than it had been in the past. The EU had produced too much disap­pointment in these countries; there had to be tangible perspec­tives. An EU of different speeds was feasible, Petry said. .

Finally, Hofreiter stressed the necessity of military support for Ukraine, because full EU membership also depended on the end of the war, he said, and Ukraine had to win.