{"id":47375,"date":"2022-06-16T12:16:30","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T10:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=47375"},"modified":"2022-06-20T12:38:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T10:38:07","slug":"why-germany-should-support-ukraines-eu-candidacy-zhernakov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/why-germany-should-support-ukraines-eu-candidacy-zhernakov\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Germany should support Ukraine\u2019s EU candidacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Foto: ZUMA Wire \/\u200b\u200b Imago Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The granting of candidate status does not mean accession: it is above all a recog\u00adnition of the progress Ukraine has made in reforms and a great symbolic gesture to a people who are protecting Europe from invasion.
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There are two fronts in Ukraine \u2013 the external military front and the internal reformist front. And both are extremely important. Because to success\u00adfully counter the external threat, you need to have a strong economy and strong insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, the absence of corruption, and the rule of law. To this end, Ukraine must complete the reforms it launched in 2014, following the Revolution of Dignity and the signing of the Associ\u00adation Agreement with the EU.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has already made consid\u00aderable progress against corruption, within an independent National Anti-Corruption Bureau and a Specialized Anti-Corruption Prose\u00adcu\u00adtor\u2019s Office. The Anti-Corruption Court has already handed down dozens of verdicts in cases of high-level corruption, and dozens of corrupt MPs, senior officials and judges are now serving time behind bars. Open registers and e\u2011declarations have made it virtually impos\u00adsible to conceal illicit benefits. ProZorro\u2019s e\u2011procurement system has already saved the state budget billions, and this experience is being studied and adopted by other countries.<\/p>\n

Immedi\u00adately before the war, we had a judicial break\u00adthrough \u2013 almost the entire High Council of Justice, the most important and most problematic body in the judiciary, resigned because it did not want to pass the integrity test provided by the recently adopted law. Now, despite the war, the independent Ethics Council has continued to elect the new leaders of the Ukrainian judiciary. The signif\u00adi\u00adcance of this reform for the country\u2019s trans\u00adfor\u00admation is extra\u00ador\u00addinary. It was even directly criti\u00adcised by Putin in his speech before the February attack as an example of how \u201cwrong\u201d Ukraine is and how much it has broken away from the \u201cRussian world\u201d into which he is trying to force us all back.<\/p>\n

But this could hardly have been achieved without one important process \u2013  visa liber\u00adal\u00adization with the EU in 2014\u20132015. What does it have to do with the reforms process? It\u2019s quite simple: the vast majority of the anti-corruption reforms were condi\u00adtions of the EU-Ukraine visa liber\u00adal\u00adization action plan. For political reasons, then-President Petro Poroshenko was very keen on visa-free travel with the EU, and his government, which was not always very fond of reforms, had no choice but to meet all the 140+ require\u00adments in the document for the estab\u00adlishment of these insti\u00adtu\u00adtions in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, President Zelensky and many people in his government, as well as millions of other Ukrainians, are military heroes. But it is no secret that there are still forces in Ukraine that do not want change. They use war as an excuse to change nothing at present. And then they will use the victory as if it were evidence that every\u00adthing is fine anyway. As a result, Ukraine risks remaining a \u201clost oppor\u00adtunity\u201d for decades, with the West gaining a permanent source of insta\u00adbility on its border during this period.<\/p>\n

Instead, while the window of oppor\u00adtunity for change is open it is critical that government and civil society reformers, who have already achieved some funda\u00admental changes, receive a powerful instrument for Ukraine\u2019s eventual trans\u00adfor\u00admation into a European country in every sense.<\/p>\n

And this instrument is the status of a candidate for EU membership, which Ukraine can obtain in June at the EU summit. All formal obstacles in the way of this have been removed. Ukraine has already submitted thousands of pages of documents in record time, despite the war. All that is needed now is a political decision from the govern\u00adments of the Member States, most of all Germany.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that candidate status for Ukraine does not guarantee its automatic membership in the EU. But it will acknowledge the progress that Ukraine has already made in reforms within the framework of the Associ\u00adation Agreement  \u2013 a highly symbolic gesture to the Ukrainian people, who are now protecting Europe from invasion. Above all, it is a precon\u00addition for accession negoti\u00ada\u00adtions, a long-term process of metic\u00adulous work on reforms that will give Ukraine the rule of law, and the EU a large, trust\u00adworthy partner in business and security.<\/p>\n

Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnately, there are still some sceptics among EU govern\u00adments who do not want to see Ukraine as a candidate, either because of a lack of under\u00adstanding or empty dreams of new gas projects with Putin. At the same time, the support of the EU population for Ukraine and its integration processes is overwhelming. In Germany<\/a>, 79% feel sympathy for Ukrainians, 71% see Ukraine as part of the European family, and 61% think Ukraine should join the EU when it is ready. And the candidacy status linked to the accession negoti\u00ada\u00adtions is a perfect instrument to get Ukraine ready for further integration.<\/p>\n

The support rates in Ukraine for integration with the EU are also at an all-time high  of 91%.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It would be catastrophic to waste such an oppor\u00adtunity now while at the same time signalling to Ukrainians that despite the huge sacri\u00adfices that they are making in defending European values, not only is no one in Europe waiting for Ukraine, but they do not even want to start talking with it.<\/p>\n

A historic choice lies in the hands of the German government and other EU leaders, affecting not only Ukraine, but the whole of Europe and the whole civilized world. It is vitally important now to show true, unerring leadership.<\/p>\n

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Mikhailo Zhernakov is the director of the DeJuRe Foundation, an organi\u00adzation promoting the rule of law in Ukraine.<\/em><\/p>\n

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