The Telegraph: European Commission President proposes granting Ukraine access to EU single market as part of peace deal

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will propose granting Ukraine access to the European Unionʼs single market as part of a final peace agreement.

This is reported by The Telegraph.

Beneficial access to a market of 449 million consumers would provide a much-needed economic boost for Ukraineʼs recovery. Under the plan, Brussels would choose which sectors to open to Kyiv and which to keep closed.

The key to the plan is the Ukrainian defense industry. Ukraine currently produces many of the most advanced drones and provides 55% of the weapons used by the Ukrainian army.

Duty-free access to Ukrainian weapons will bring Kyiv money and at the same time increase the arsenals of European Union countries. This is important, given Europeʼs plan to rearm.

At a recent summit in Brussels, EU leaders agreed to allocate €800 billion for defense investment.

“We are also working on plans to accelerate Ukraine’s integration into many other parts of the single market – to attract more investment, strengthen pan-European value chains and create new opportunities for both Ukrainian and European businesses. This will be a step towards accelerating Ukraine’s recovery,” explained EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.

The European Union has already moved to integrate Ukraineʼs electricity market with the European one and will seek to deepen cooperation. There has also been discussion about opening up Ukraineʼs services sector, as Kyiv is a major exporter of IT services and goods with the largest number of outsourced developers in Eastern Europe.

When will we become a member of the EU?

This will happen only after Ukraine fulfills all requirements and fully implements all European standards.

There are various examples in the history of EU enlargement. Finland applied in 1992 and became a member of the European Union in 1995. Poland applied in 1994 and joined the EU 10 years later. The last country to join the European Union was Croatia. It applied in 2003 and became a new member in 2013.

There are also countries that still remain candidates for accession. These are four Balkan countries: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Turkey has the same status. But in all of these countries the process is slowing down. Turkey does not meet the EU requirements at all and does not show any desire to join it. In Serbia, the majority of the population does not want to join the European Union, and the country itself has close ties with Russia. Albania has not even started accession negotiations yet, and in Montenegro, with the change of government, the foreign policy orientation is changing — either towards the EU or towards Serbia. North Macedonia is doing the most to join the European Union, but its progress is blocked by its neighbors. At first, Greece demanded a name change — and the Macedonians did it, now Bulgaria is demanding that North Macedonia recognize that its people and language have Bulgarian roots and originate from Bulgaria.

Most importantly, after receiving candidate status, everything will depend on the Ukrainian authorities. They have received a clear list of reforms that need to be implemented, and society has the opportunity to control this process. In addition, candidate status will mean access to EU financial funds — in fact, the EU itself will provide money for reforms. One thing can be said for sure: the sooner Ukraine reforms, the sooner it will be able to become a member of the EU.

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