Ireland warns against Ukraine associate membership risk, citing limbo

Granting “associate membership” to Ukraine risks leaving the country in limbo that could make it lose momentum to complete the path to a full membership status, said Helen McEntee, Ireland’s foreign minister.

The remarks come in response to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s unprecedented plan to create a tailor-made status for Ukraine, which McEntee considers might create a two-tiered approach to EU membership.

“We need to make sure that there isn’t a two-tiered approach or we apply [the accession process] equally to each country,” McEntree said on Friday during a briefing with journalists attended by EU News.

Her remarks carry particular weight as Ireland is poised to take the reins of the EU Council’s presidency in July and will therefore oversee negotiations on Kyiv’s bid.

“Ukraine’s in a very difficult situation, we’ve been really supportive of how we can progress Ukraine’s accession,” she continued, noting that, however, an associate member might lose momentum to progress toward full membership status.

“Do you end up in a situation where associated members find themselves in some kind of a limbo?” McEntree said, pointing to areas where candidate countries tend to get stuck without enough pressure to pass legal reforms, like the rule of law and the legal system.

“Does that take a bit of the pressure off? Do countries end up kind of in this half position of membership that then doesn’t naturally progress?” she added.

Brussels and member states are currently digesting the letter that Merz sent to his fellow leaders in a bid to break the two-year stalemate on Ukraine’s accession.

In the five-page document, seen by EU News, Merz proposes “associate membership” to give Ukraine access to decision-making bodies without voting rights or portfolio and to certain EU-funded programmes on a “step-by-step” basis.

He also envisions Kyiv able to request assistance from other member states in the event of armed aggression through Article 42.7 of the EU treaties. This, he argues, would create a “substantial security guarantee” to deter Russia.

“It is obvious that we will not be able to complete the accession process shortly, given the countless hurdles as well as the political complexities of ratification processes in various member states,” Merz writes.

“It is now time to boldly move on with Ukraine’s EU integration through innovative solutions as immediate steps forward.”

The European Commission welcomed the debate on “innovative solutions” but cautioned that the “merit-based” logic of enlargement should be respected.

The executive says it will only comment on the legal merits of Merz’s plan once the discussion among heads of state and government has concluded. Diplomats, however, have been much more sceptical about its feasibility.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressed his country remained focused on achieving “full-fledged membership” in the bloc.

“We see that the search for modalities that can lead to this membership is ongoing. Well, let them have a place, but they cannot replace our strategic position,” he said on Friday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is yet to comment on Merz’s proposal, previously rebuffed any overture for “symbolic” accession.

The German letter comes as the bloc sees a window of opportunity to finally lift the Hungarian veto on Ukraine’s accession, which has left the process paralysed for two years. The new government in Budapest has launched consultations with Kyiv to discuss the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, a politically sensitive issue.

Brussels hopes that enough progress will be made to lift the veto in June and open the first cluster of negotiations with Ukraine, known as “fundamentals”, with the remaining five clusters unblocked across the remainder of the year.