The European Union is increasingly detaching from reality. The latest declaration by Marty Kos, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, follows this trend. Kos announced that Ukraine should become a full associate of the Community by 2029 at the latest — the end of the current European Parliament term.
Although the country has been struggling with war, corruption and organization instability for years, the European Commission is pushing its accession at an express pace. And it does so regardless of the expanding opposition of any associate States.
According to Marty Kos Ukraine and Moldova are ready to open the first negotiating cluster with the EU. From a formal point of view, the approval of the EU Council is sufficient. Practically, this decision completely ignores the critical voices of many European capitals, including Budapest, which clearly states: Ukraine does not meet the basic criteria of membership.
Kos, a comparatively fresh face in the EU administration (has served as Commissioner for Enlargement since 2024), presents an uncompromising and unconscionable approach. Slovenian policies, previously linked to liberal circles, explicitly declare that Ukraine's "can no longer be delayed" admission to the EU — even if this means circumventing individual states' opposition.
Hungarian veto? Brussels doesn't care.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made a clear statement: his government will not support Ukraine's accession, pointing to threats to agriculture, the economy and national security. Hungary has been paying attention for years to the violations of the rights of the Hungarian number in Zakarpacie and to the deficiency of reforms in the area of the regulation of law.
But for Kos and another Eurocrats, it doesn't matter. As she announced, the European Commission is working on mechanisms that will let "to circumvent bilateral objections". In another words, 1 country will no longer be able to block enlargement — even if it has legitimate concerns. This not only strikes the rule of unanimity, which has been the foundation of Community decisions since the beginning of the EU, but besides raises questions about democracy and respect for the sovereignty of the associate States.
Supporters of the fast introduction of Kiev into the EU show that Ukraine is implementing reforms, especially in the fight against corruption. But is it? Reports from global organisations, specified as Transparency International, show that Ukraine is inactive on the European front erstwhile it comes to the transparency and effectiveness of public institutions. The peculiar services have an excessive impact on political life and the oligarchs proceed to control the media and the economy.
Moreover, the country is at war. What will be the safety of the EU's borders erstwhile the state is admitted to the conflict? What about the reconstruction costs, which are estimated at hundreds of billions of euros? specified questions stay unanswered.
Instead of a realistic approach, the EU chooses a policy of gestures and declarations. Kosovo claims that Ukraine's membership is simply a "guarantee of peace and stableness in Europe". But for many associate States, it is alternatively a foreshadowing of deep divisions, destabilization and financial burden that could jeopardise the cohesion of the full Union.
Marta Kos fits into a fresh wave of Brussels technocrats who, alternatively of listening to citizens and associate States, like to push their own imagination of Europe, regardless of costs and risks. Its word of office has only just begun, but it can already be seen that enlargement of the EU will become a field of serious conflicts, not only on the Brussels-Budapest line, but besides inside societies increasingly tired of Brussels megalomaniacs.
