EU Enlargement Package and Ukraine’s Progress — roundtable discussion

On Friday, 15 November 2024, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, with the organisational support of the GDIP, held a roundtable discussion entitled EU Enlargement Package and Ukraine’s Progress.

Hryhorii Perepelytsia, Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Doctor of Political Science, Professor at the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of the Educational and Scientific Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, moderated the event.

In his opening remarks, Mr Perepelytsia outlined the issues of the discussion’s agenda and focused on Ukraine’s achievements in foreign security policy, particularly in the European integration course: ‘As 2024 draws to a close, we need to analyse the results of the European integration process, the negotiations between Ukraine and the EU, as well as other aspects related to Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. The EU used to deal with soft threats, but now military threats have emerged. Due to the new spectrum of international threats, the EU is defining its priorities within the framework of a common security and defence policy, which opens a new perspective for us to become a member of the EU — not only as of an economic association, but also for building a common defence. This, of course, is a promising area, given that since the beginning of russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the EU was the first to provide us with assistance. Therefore, we need to analyse and find out whether the EU can replace our NATO membership in terms of security and defence policy and what are the main ways to achieve a breakthrough in this regard.’

Speakers of the event: Ivan Nahorniak, Advisor at the Economic Recovery Centre, CIVITTA partner, expert on European integration, PhD in Political Science; Piotr ?ukasiewicz, Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine; Mykhailo Pashkov, Co-Director of Foreign Policy and International Security Programmes at the Razumkov Centre; Liubov Akulenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy.

Mykhailo Pashkov, Co-Director of Foreign Policy and International Security Programmes at the Razumkov Centre

Piotr ?ukasiewicz, Chargé d’Affaires of Poland

Hryhorii Perepelytsia, Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, moderator of the event

Liubov Akulenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy

Ivan Nahorniak, Advisor at the Economic Recovery Centre, expert on European integration

In his remarks, Charge d’Affaires of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine Piotr ?ukasiewicz repeatedly emphasised Poland’s unwavering support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership: ‘Poland’s position is widely known. We are the most vocal advocates of Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO. Of course, the EU is of utmost importance at the moment. We support Ukrainians in their desire to join the community and want to see Ukraine as an EU member as soon as possible. Of course, the current situation also raises a political question: how fast can the EU enlargement process take place, given that Ukraine is in a very specific position of fighting the brutal and unjust invasion and at the same time negotiating with the EU?’ Mr ?ukasiewicz also noted that Ukraine’s accession to the EU depends not only on the country’s presidency in the Council of Europe but also on the need to find a consensus with all EU member states.

A number of important issues were discussed during the roundtable, including: general assessment of the negotiation process between Ukraine and the EU throughout 2024; the negotiating delegation and challenges in its organisational support; the Fundamentals cluster and the prospects for opening negotiations during the presidency of the Republic of Poland in the EU in 2025; assessment of Ukraine’s progress in other negotiation clusters; the EU’s foreign and Common Security and Defence Policy as the most promising area of Ukraine’s European integration.

Bla? Masle, Deputy Head of the Diplomatic Mission of Slovenia

Rossitsa Dimitrova, Political Advisor at the NATO Representation

Mothusi Choeunyane Archibald, Head of Political Section at the Embassy of South Africa