Borrell said Ukraine is “not ready” to join the EU

The potential for Ukraine to join the EU remains, but the process will be difficult “as fighting continues in Ukraine.” This was stated by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in an interview with The Guardian.

He also added that Ukraine carried out the necessary reforms even before they began, and there are many of them. More changes will be needed, including, according to Borrell, greater use of voting.

Asked whether disputes between Kiev and Eastern European countries over grain exports are a harbinger of conflicts that could arise if the country joins the EU, Borrell noted that at the moment Ukraine would be “the only net beneficiary if it were a member of the European Union ”

In general, Ukraine’s accession to the EU will mean the end of the “sleepy siesta” in the bloc’s expansion, the head of European diplomacy added. He recalled that since 2013, not a single country has joined the bloc; eight states are awaiting accession. “For many years there was a kind of stalemate and nothing happened. Ukraine has created a new dynamic,” Borrell noted, as quoted by RBC.

Let us remember that the European Union includes 27 states. Georgia and the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo are awaiting EU candidate status; they submitted applications in 2022. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova are awaiting approval from 2022, Serbia from 2019, Albania from 2014. North Macedonia has been awaiting a decision since 2005, Montenegro since 2010. Turkey had to wait the longest – the country submitted an application back in 1999, but has still not received a response.

Ukraine applied to join the EU in February 2022, a few days after the start of the CEA. On June 23 of the same year, the country received candidate status for joining the union.