{"id":94597,"date":"2025-05-12T05:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T05:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/94597\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T05:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T05:52:09","slug":"fast-tracking-ukraines-eu-accession-helps-no-one-least-of-all-ukraine-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/94597\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast-tracking Ukraine\u2019s EU accession helps no one \u2014 least of all Ukraine \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a result, <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/northern-european-countries-demand-concrete-steps-for-ukraines-eu-membership\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">many within the bloc<\/a> are now calling for Ukraine\u2019s accession to be radically fast-tracked, following the European Council\u2019s 2022 decision to grant it candidate status. Moreover, anyone who subjects these promises to even the mildest scrutiny now risks being accused of failing to take Russia\u2019s aggression seriously, or even of aiding Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>However, admitting Ukraine into the EU presents an immense challenge \u2014 one that would fully reshape the bloc\u2019s budgetary structure and risk unity, given the country would immediately become the largest recipient of EU funds.<\/p>\n<p>These concerns were widespread within the bloc\u2019s establishment not that long ago. It was in 2023 that former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker remarked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/jean-claude-juncker-ukraine-corruption-eu-accession\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ukraine wasn\u2019t ready for accession<\/a> due to rule-of-law and corruption challenges, saying: \u201cAnyone who has had anything to do with Ukraine knows that this is a country that is corrupt at all levels of society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And despite much reform, this problem stubbornly persists. A 2024 poll by the country\u2019s National Agency on Corruption Prevention found that <a href=\"https:\/\/nazk.gov.ua\/en\/news\/ukrainians-real-experience-of-corruption-is-more-than-four-times-lower-than-the-estimate-of-corruption-prevalence-research-findings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">90 percent of Ukrainians believe corruption is still widespread<\/a>, with most saying it\u2019s getting worse. More Ukrainians now view corruption <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iri.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Ukraine-February-2024-National-Survey_Public.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as a greater threat<\/a> than Russia\u2019s military aggression.<\/p>\n<p>Even more concerning, the country\u2019s anti-corruption agencies are now widely seen as tools of political convenience too. Semen Kryvonos, who\u2019s been leading the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) since 2023, for instance, owes a political debt to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak for landing a top post at a state regulator two years prior.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue Yermak has seized on martial law as a cover to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/europe\/2025\/04\/16\/power-is-being-monopolised-in-ukraine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tighten his grip on the levers of power<\/a> and politicize state institutions, using them to pursue opponents and insulate allies. So, when a <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/nabu-says-it-closed-corruption-case-against-brother-of-zelenskys-chief-of-staff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NABU investigation implicating him<\/a> was quietly dropped without explanation \u2014 his brother was allegedly caught selling political positions and access to the President\u2019s Office \u2014 many viewed it as confirmation of selective justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a result, many within the bloc are now calling for Ukraine\u2019s accession to be radically fast-tracked, following&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[12915,24605,2575,32,6561,2000,9898,6562,299,19133,25482,7338,811,6567,6717,657,19655,49,335],"class_list":{"0":"post-94597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-aid-and-development","9":"tag-andriy-yermak","10":"tag-corruption","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-enlargement","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-eu-funding","15":"tag-eu27","16":"tag-europe","17":"tag-jean-claude-juncker","18":"tag-montenegro","19":"tag-rule-of-law","20":"tag-security","21":"tag-serbia","22":"tag-transatlantic-relations","23":"tag-ukraine","24":"tag-ukrainian-politics","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114493308581670892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}