Ukraine's accession to EU: Former head of European Commission proposes "partial membership" format

Former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has proposed "partial membership" in the EU for Ukraine, as many transformations are needed to fully join the EU.

According to dpa, Jean-Claude Juncker, who headed the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, has suggested the idea of Ukraine's "partial membership" in the EU, in which Ukraine would participate in some internal EU processes and meetings but not have the right to vote.

"Ukraine will not be able to become an EU member very soon… Many unresolved issues in Ukraine, from corruption to the rule of law, need to be dealt with before we can seriously talk about Ukraine's accession," Juncker said.

In his opinion, Ukraine would benefit from such a "partial membership" format because it would signal the recognition of its European integration work by its European partners.

Juncker made a similar statement a year ago when the former head of the European Commission said that European partners should not give Ukrainians "false promises" of rapid accession to the EU and that the country was not yet ready for membership, in particular, because of "corruption at all levels of society".

The current President of the European Commission and Kyiv responded to his words. Meanwhile, the Hungarian government expressed agreement with Juncker's assessment and proposed granting Ukraine "privileged partnership" instead of EU membership.

In June 2024, the European Union officially opened accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. In its autumn 2024 enlargement report, the European Commission indicated readiness to open the first negotiation clusters with Ukraine next year.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated that Kyiv aims to open two negotiation clusters during Poland's presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2025.