The European Union has signed off a €14 million program to help Ukraine achieve EU membership.
Entitled Ukraine2EU, the initiative aims to support attempts to reform Ukrainian state institutions so that they are able to manage the accession process and meet the standards required to join the 27-nation bloc.
Political leaders in Kyiv and many abroad have called for the speedy approval of the country’s membership ambitions, which could help guarantee Ukraine’s future security once the ongoing war with Russia comes to an end.
The program, which will run from 2025 until 2027, has been given financial backing by the EU and two of its member states, Denmark and Lithuania. A Lithuanian agency will manage the initiative, whose key goals include increasing the level of EU law expertise within Ukraine and raising awareness among the public.
As the program was announced on Wednesday, Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister with responsibility for EU accession, said that her country was “committed to making the most of this opportunity”.
“EU accession is a key priority for our country, and this program will help us reinforce our capacities to navigate this complex process,” she said.
The EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová, described the venture as “an umbrella” for efforts by European institutions and individual member states to help bring Kyiv into the bloc.
"Today’s signature marks the beginning of the next phase of our long-standing support for Ukraine’s EU Integration,” she added.
Although there is widespread support within the EU for Kyiv’s accession goal, some European leaders are opposed, most notably Hungary’s nationalist, Moscow-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Orbán this week claimed that Ukranian membership at this point would “devastate Hungary” because “all the funds currently available to the EU would be redirected to Ukraine,” the Euractiv news website reported.
