Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for EU and NATO accession, Taras Kachka, stated that some European Union countries are suggesting Ukraine delay its accession by 10–20 years, citing the need to verify the sustainability of implemented reforms.
Source: PRYAMYI
According to Kachka, such positions are expressed, in particular, by Germany and other member states, explaining their desire to build trust in the results of reforms: “You will implement reforms, and we need, say, 20 years to be sure everything works. It’s not that we don’t want to accept you, we just need trust.”
He emphasized that the lengthy accession process for Balkan countries to the EU was related to the enlargement methodology of that time, when, in addition to implementing reforms, their irreversibility had to be proven. During the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, a special mechanism for monitoring and verifying reforms, CVM (Cooperation and Verification Mechanism), was in place, which even after membership allowed the European Commission to limit certain rights of the state. Modern EU tools are referred to as “safeguards.”
Kachka stressed that a long wait for Ukraine’s EU accession is unacceptable: “Maybe I’m exaggerating about 20 years, let it be 10 years — but for us, that’s an eternity.” He noted that mechanisms for monitoring and verifying reforms are normal, but they are often oversimplified in the media.