#16 UkraineMEMO: Ukraine on its path to the EU

26/10/2023

In June 2022, the EU granted Ukraine the candidate status and thus gave it a membership perspective. At the same time, the EU sent a political signal that Ukraine is not a buffer zone, but should be firmly anchored in the Euro-Atlantic area. On the basis of the European Commission's enlargement report, the European Council will decide in December 2023 whether to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. This would send an important signal that could have a positive impact on the Ukrainians' sense of European belonging and the ongoing reforms in the country.

What is the status of Ukraine's alignment with the EU aquis? How and in which areas can Germany support Ukraine in concrete terms? What advantages and prospects does Ukraine's accession offer for Germany and the EU? How can the accession momentum be maintained in the context of overlapping, international crises?

We discuss these and other questions with our guest:

Miriam Kosmehl is Senior Expert for Eastern Europe and EU Neighbourhood at the Bertelsmann Foundation Europe's Future programme.

Moderator: Nataliya Pryhornytska, political scientist and co-founder of the Alliance of Ukrainian Organizations.

Episode #16 of UkraineMEMO is also available here: 

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With its podcast "UkraineMEMO: Interviews, Analysis, Policy Advice", IEP presents new perspectives on Ukraine. With guests from Germany and Ukraine, Ljudmyla Melnyk and Nataliya Pryhornytska discuss recent developments in the areas of Ukrainian politics, economy and society and thus provide an insight into events on the ground that are moving the country. Ukraine's relationship with Germany and the EU is always kept in mind.

UkraineMEMO is part of the UA Transformation Lab. The project strengthens Ukrainian think tanks as civil society actors and deepens their cooperation with local governments. It promotes exchange between German and Ukrainian think tanks and bilateral dialogue.

The episodes 10-15 were produced as part of the "UkraineForward: amplifying analysis” project funded by the MATRA Programme supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine, and implemented by Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) with its partners.

The first nine episodes of the podcast UkraineMEMO: Interviews, Analysis, Policy Advice were produced as part of the project "German-Ukrainian Researchers Network" (GURN, 2019-2022) and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.