NICOSIA – Despite the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, a gathering of European leaders in Cyprus gave a chilly assessment of any prospect of a quick or easy path to EU membership for Ukraine.
Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself has appeared to acknowledge the limits to how quickly or easily his besieged country can find a European home.
“It’s a long process, a very difficult process,” António Costa, president of the European Council, said after the two-day summit of EU leaders, recalling his Portugal’s nine-year accession path. “We cannot fix artificial moments, three months or ten years.”
His remarks reflect a wider shift in mood among EU capitals. While Brussels has in recent months explored more flexible approaches, including a concept informally described as “reverse enlargement”, which would allow for earlier political integration, there is little appetite among leaders to depart from the EU’s established merit-based framework.
However quickly Ukraine moves, enlargement will remain, according to Costa, “a merit-based process.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz echoed Costa’s assessment. “It is clear to everyone that Ukraine’s immediate accession to the European Union is, of course, impossible,” he told reporters, adding that the EU should seek to “gradually bring Ukraine closer to the EU” by linking its integration to specific reforms.
Zelenskyy, who joined the leaders for dinner on Thursday evening in Ayia Napa, appeared to acknowledge that acquiescing to Kiev will not be possible anytime soon.
“We want (it) very much, I always want specific things,” the Ukrainian president said, only half-jokingly, when asked if his country could join the EU by 2027, as it has. previously induced – a deadline that even the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has treated with care.
As night fell over Cyprus, Zelenskyy’s tone turned somber. “Much depends not only on President Costa and President von der Leyen. We need unanimity from all allies.”
Von der Leyen’s Iran energy crisis plan backfires with EU allies
Ayia Napa, CYPRUS – EU leaders gathered in Cyprus on Thursday night to discuss Ursula…
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The Cyprus Summit
EU leaders arrived in Cyprus on Thursday in a particularly buoyant mood – looking forward to what diplomats described as “a very short break” – after agreeing, just hours earlier, to a long-delayed loan package for Ukraine and a new round of sanctions against Russia.
The gathering, the first since Hungary’s Viktor Orbán’s electoral defeat, was widely seen as an opportunity to turn the page.
However, the mood in Ayia Napa proved more nuanced. “I think there is a bit of euphoria about the fact that Victor is no longer there,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said before Thursday’s dinner, cautioning against expectations of automatic consensus in the future on the bloc’s Russia policy.
That note of restraint carried over into the energy discussions, where divisions resurfaced over how best to respond to the energy crisis caused by the US-Israel war against Iran. A day before the summit, the Commission had proposed tighter coordination on strategic fuels such as diesel and jet fuel, along with targeted adjustments to state aid rules.
Some leaders signaled concern with aspects of the approach. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was among those who expressed reservations, suggesting that the Commission’s proposals do not yet fully reflect the concerns of member states. “I don’t think I’m alone on the Council,” she said.
Splits also emerged over EU policy towards Iran, with Merz suggesting the bloc should ease sanctions on Tehran as part of a ceasefire deal. Not everyone agreed. “It’s too early, we don’t have a good experience with Iran,” Costa said. “We cannot ignore the nature of the regime, the violence of the regime against their own people and the thousands of people they killed recently.”
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