Benelux-leaders cautious about setting a year for Ukraine’s EU accession
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten does not want to name a specific year for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. He said so on Thursday ahead of the informal EU summit in Cyprus. According to Jetten, accession negotiations can move quickly, but that does not mean Ukraine will be able to join the EU in the short term.
The prime ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg share this cautious stance. Bart De Wever and Luc Frieden also do not want to set a timeline for Ukraine’s EU membership.
Shortly before the start of the summit, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the launch of official accession negotiations with Ukraine. Jetten stressed that, in the Netherlands’ view, Ukraine belongs to the European family, but that the country still needs to carry out far‑reaching reforms to meet all accession criteria.
The Netherlands is prepared to support Ukraine in this process, Jetten said. However, the Benelux countries emphasize that the accession process must proceed carefully and remain based on reforms and rule‑of‑law conditions, rather than on predetermined deadlines.
