Merz proposes making Ukraine an associate EU member

Brussels – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed that Ukraine become an associate member of the European Union. He made the proposal in a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President-in-Office of the Council of the EU, Nikos Christodoulides. The status would be created specifically for Ukraine, prior to its full accession to the EU. “It is clear that we will not be able to complete the accession process in the short term,” Merz wrote. In view of the peace process, however, “we have no time for further delays. The time has come to proceed boldly with Ukraine’s European integration through innovative solutions as immediate steps forward,” he said in the letter. 

The associated membership model would not require any amendments to the Treaties nor the signing of an Accession Treaty by Kyiv, but only a political agreement. News agencies have reported that the proposal provides, among other things, for the extension of Article 42(7) of the Treaty of the European Union, the mutual defence clause, to Kyiv. For Merz, this would create “a substantial security guarantee.” Ukraine would then participate in meetings of the European Council and the Council of the EU without voting rights, with an associate commissioner without a portfolio but fully involved in the work (except in voting), and with its own associate representatives in the European Parliament, who would also have no voting rights.

From a regulatory perspective, the application of EU law would be gradual and linked to the progress of accession negotiations. Nor would the EU budget be fully activated immediately: Kyiv would have to gain access to it gradually and only for directly managed programmes, the news agencies report. In the letter, Merz acknowledges that the proposal “will raise some questions regarding its political, technical, and legal feasibility,” but says he is convinced that these can be resolved “if we adopt a constructive approach towards this special status.”