The Hungarian Institute for Foreign Affairs (MKI) said in a report that it would be premature for the European Union to start accession talks with Ukraine.
Ahead of this week’s meeting of the European Council, MKI said Ukraine was not ready to join the EU, and the bloc had failed to say how its accession would work in practice politically and economically. The European Commission had set conditions in four areas and none had been met, the MKI said, citing the issues of how judges are selected, the vetting of the country’s supreme judicial council, combatting money laundering and media freedom. Ukraine had failed to act against corruption and oligarchs, MKI said, adding that the treatment of the country’s national minorities still fell short of European norms. Allowing a country without full control over its territory to join would bring the war to the bloc, its study added. Also, Ukraine’s economy is highly dependent on foreign aid, it said, and its accession would impose a sustained financial burden. Ukraine would be unable to meet the requirements of price stability without huge foreign support to stabilise the Ukrainian currency, MKI added. Further, Ukraine’s expedited accession would discredit the EU in the eyes of the Western Balkan countries and the other candidate member states, the institute’s report said.