{"id":287261,"date":"2026-01-16T08:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/287261\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:56:06","slug":"eu-membership-lite-plan-for-ukraine-spooks-european-capitals-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/287261\/","title":{"rendered":"EU \u2018membership-lite\u2019 plan for Ukraine spooks European capitals \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels is drafting proposals to tear up the EU<\/a> accession system used since the cold war, replacing it with a contentious two-tier model that could fast-track Ukraine<\/a>\u2019s entry in any peace deal to end Russia<\/a>\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n

The overhaul plan under discussion at the European Commission, while preliminary, is already unsettling EU capitals alarmed at an \u201cenlargement-lite\u201d approach with sweeping implications for the union, according to seven senior officials involved in the talks.<\/p>\n

Ukraine, which became a formal EU candidate country soon after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022, sees membership as a foundational element of its postwar future and a definitive statement about its pro-western alignment.<\/p>\n

A reference to Kyiv joining the EU in 2027 is included in drafts of a US-led 20-point peace plan under negotiation, despite EU officials estimating that the country may need a decade of reform to meet the EU\u2019s strict entry criteria.<\/p>\n

But commission officials understand that Ukraine\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will only be able to accept other aspects of a possible peace deal, such as giving up territory to Russia, if he can present EU membership as the positive outcome.<\/p>\n

The preliminary plan under discussion would enable Ukraine to join the bloc but with far less decision-making power. Normal voting rights, for instance, would not initially be available to Ukraine in leaders\u2019 summits and ministerial meetings, according to the officials.<\/p>\n

Under the proposals still being developed, Kyiv would gain incremental access to parts of the bloc\u2019s single market, its agricultural subsidies and its internal development funding after meeting post-membership milestones.<\/p>\n

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That would drastically change accession rules agreed in 1993 that require countries to meet vast amounts of EU regulations across swathes of policy areas, and only enter the club when all boxes have been ticked.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtraordinary times call for extraordinary measures\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009We\u2019re not undermining enlargement. We\u2019re enlarging the concept of enlargement,\u201d said one senior EU diplomat briefed on the concept. \u201cThe rules were written more than 30 years ago. And they need to be more flexible. This is a once-in-a-generation moment and we have to meet it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But diplomats from EU member states and other aspirational members that have been involved in informal discussions with the commission about the proposal said there was deep unease about the concept. Some fear it would have a negative impact on the bloc\u2019s future stability, cheapen the value of membership and upset other candidate countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a trap set by Putin and Trump and we are walking into it,\u201d said a second EU diplomat, citing the risk to the bloc\u2019s unity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU is once again stuck between a rock and a very hard place,\u201d said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe managing director at Eurasia Group. \u201cIt has no choice but to expedite Ukraine\u2019s accession, yet doing so will open a Pandora\u2019s box of political and policy risks no one in Brussels quite fully understands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s progress through the existing membership process has been held up by Hungary, which has blocked the unanimous approval required to formally open and close each of its 35 so-called accession \u201cchapters\u201d.<\/p>\n

EU and Ukrainian officials believe that if the US is a signatory to the eventual peace plan, it will force Budapest and its close ally president Donald Trump to give way.<\/p>\n

Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, on Thursday linked Ukraine\u2019s accession to the peace talks. \u201cAccession is both a key security guarantee in its own right for Ukraine, but also the essential engine for future growth and prosperity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But a large group of existing EU members, while keen to support Ukraine, are fiercely resistant to any measures that would either create loopholes in the rules or set up a two-tier membership system, four bloc diplomats said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have a merit-based process with a fixed completion date,\u201d said one of those diplomats.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to force this down the throat of the member states and they will never accept it,\u201d said a senior EU official, warning it would open a damaging rift between Brussels and member states.<\/p>\n

Other officials said any move to adjust the enlargement process would also disrupt the ambitions of other accession candidates, and pose wider questions about how the EU interacts with its close neighbours.<\/p>\n

Montenegro and Albania are closest to gaining membership in terms of progress through the chapters, and may feel like they are being offered a less appealing prize, three of the seven people said.<\/p>\n

It would also raise questions about whether other states that have made little or no progress towards membership in recent years \u2013 such as Bosnia and Turkey \u2013 would be offered the same enlargement-lite option.<\/p>\n

It is unclear how it would affect the European Economic Area countries such as Norway, which are part of the single market without voting rights, or other non-accession but close partner countries such as the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re posing huge, difficult questions with something like this,\u201d said a third senior EU diplomat. \u201cThere are so many unforeseen outcomes possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

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