{"id":5800,"date":"2026-04-25T12:37:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=5800"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:42:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:42:00","slug":"no-fast-track-eu-membership-for-ukraine-merz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/no-fast-track-eu-membership-for-ukraine-merz\/","title":{"rendered":"No fast-track EU membership for Ukraine \u2013 Merz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kiev has repeatedly demanded a set date for its accession<\/strong><\/p>\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has ruled out Ukraine\u2019s immediate accession to the European Union, instead calling for a phased approach to integration, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Friday.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Bloomberg cited an unnamed EU official as saying that leaders had signaled preliminary conditions are in place for Ukraine to begin the first stage of the membership process, with talks potentially starting in the coming weeks or months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear to everyone that an immediate accession of Ukraine to the EU is, of course, not possible,\u201d<\/em> Merz said as cited by the news agency after an EU summit in Cyprus. \u201cI also want to enable closer integration into the European institutions, for example through participation in European councils without voting rights.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The comment comes as European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a joint statement, called for immediate \u201copening of negotiation clusters\u201d<\/em> on Ukraine\u2019s EU membership.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky rejected any lesser form of membership, insisting on full accession and saying his country is \u201cdefending common European values.\u201d<\/em> He has repeatedly urged Brussels to set a concrete date, arguing it should come no later than 2027.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Vladimir
Zelensky issues new deadline demand to EU<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Merz already characterized Zelensky\u2019s goal of membership by 2027 as \u201cnot possible\u201d<\/em> earlier this year, saying that Ukraine needs first to stabilize its institutions and economy and root out corruption.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen, who granted Ukraine candidate status within weeks of its 2022 application, has previously rejected the idea of setting a firm date, telling Zelensky in February: \u201cFrom our side, dates by themselves are not possible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s accession has been consistently opposed by Slovakia and by Hungary under the outgoing government of Viktor Orban. They argue that Ukrainian membership could draw the EU into an open conflict with Russia and undermine the bloc\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Moscow says it does not oppose Ukraine joining the organization, but has criticized what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called its transformation into an \u201caggressive military-political bloc\u201d<\/em> and an \u201cappendage of NATO.\u201d<\/em> Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also warned that Ukraine\u2019s accession could undermine the EU and even lead to its collapse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kiev has repeatedly demanded a set date for its accession German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has ruled out Ukraine\u2019s immediate accession […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5800"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5803,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions\/5803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}