EU seeking to include guarantees of Ukraine's membership in European Union in peace agreement – ​​media

The EU is exploring options for including EU membership guarantees in a potential peace agreement in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing sources.

“The European Union is preparing a series of options to embed Ukraine’s membership [to bring together] in a future peace deal, according to people familiar with the matter,” the agency informed.

According to interlocutors, the options under consideration include providing Kyiv up front with the protection that comes with EU accession as well as immediate access to some membership rights.

At the same time, the bloc would give Ukraine a clear timeframe of steps that it needs to take to advance with the formal procedure.

“Other options on the table would entail continuing along the existing accession path or introducing a transition period and gradual membership to the process, they said, declining to be named because the talks are sensitive,” Bloomberg said.

The agency recalls that a draft of the 20-point peace plan that Ukraine has been working on mostly with the US anticipates EU membership in 2027, with Kyiv receiving some of the benefits of membership in the interim. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country is aiming to join the bloc by that year as membership is a key security guarantee for Ukraine.

Kyiv was granted candidate status in 2022 after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and approval to begin accession talks at the end of 2023. Formal negotiations began in 2024 but the process has been stalled by Hungary which is blocking the opening of so-called negotiating chapters.

EU membership usually takes years and progress requires the backing of all member states.