Backing Ukraine's Bid for EU Membership 'Simply Suicidal' - Polish Journalist

Anonymous diplomats told media this week that Brussels is preparing to kick off formal talks on Ukraine's accession into the European Union, with an announcement on the matter expected as soon as December. The news has prompted senior serving and former EU officials to give contradictory views on the potential consequences of such a radical move.

Ukrainian membership in the EU would fundamentally undermine Poland’s economic interests and constitute a form of political suicide, independent Polish journalist and commentator Lukasz Warzecha has warned.

"Please imagine this: in a few years, in the perspective new budget, Poles will be made to pay not only gigantic amounts of money due to the EU’s absurd climate policy, but be informed that tens of billions of euros’ worth of our money will be flowing to Ukraine, which will be our direct rival in the bloc," Warzecha wrote.

"The course of supporting Ukrainian membership is simply suicidal, and goes against Polish interests. Moreover, these is no trace of debate on the matter in our country," the journalist added.

Pointing to media revelations this week that the EU would have to dole out €186 billion to Kiev to fill the massive holes in Ukraine's budget if it became an EU member, which would turn Eastern European net recipients of EU aid into donors, Warzecha expressed amazement over Polish politicians’ apparent willingness to be led a long like sheep, "without a trace of reflection about the consequences for Poland, to immediately begin to support Ukraine’s admission, which would bring the greatest benefit for Germany."

Warzecha's warning comes amid reports that EU leaders plan to green light talks for Ukraine's accession into the European Union, and news that the bloc may be preparing to unfreeze €13 billion euros in monies owed to Hungary by Brussels over a "rule of law" dispute, in exchange for Hungarian support for Kiev. Budapest has called the blockage of funds attempted "blackmail."

Former and current European officials have offered contradictory views on Ukraine's prospects for EU membership, with European Council President Charles Michel saying this week that Kiev could become a member of the bloc by 2030 if "both sides do their homework," "actively and steadily carry out reforms, fight corruption and comply with legal conditions."

However, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell warned Friday that the 2030 target was just a “political horizon,” not a hard-set commitment. “It’s good to have a target, it’s good to have a horizon. This is a political horizon. The purpose of a fixed date is just to mobilize political energy to start moving. It does not mean that it has to be a precise date. If we don’t have a horizon, people will start thinking ‘okay, we have time’. But we don’t have time,” Borrell said at a meeting with EU leaders in Granada.

Ukraine “has pushed the queue, and the queue will move, and we will move quickly,” according to Borrell.

But not all European leaders are on the same page about moving the “queue.”

On Thursday, former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned against making any “false promises” to Ukrainians, and said that “anyone who has anything to do with Ukraine knows that this is a country that is corrupt at all levels of society,” and remains ineligible to join. “We have had bad experiences with some so-called new members, for example when it comes to the rule of law. This cannot be repeated again,” Juncker stressed.

Brussels has strung Ukraine along for nearly a decade when it comes to prospective EU membership, helping Washington stage a violent coup in the country in February 2014 after President Viktor Yanukovych attempted to integrate Ukraine into the Eurasian Economic Union with Russia and postponed signing an Association Agreement with the EU.

Strained Polish-Ukrainian Ties

The talk of possible Ukrainian membership in the EU comes amid a major political and economic spat between Ukraine and Poland – once one of Kiev's staunchest allies, sparked by Warsaw's decision to ban Ukrainian grain imports, Ukraine's move to sue Poland in the World Trade Organization, and a string of bitter back-and-forth statements by officials, including Polish President Andrzej Duda comparing Ukraine to a "dangerous drowning man."

With Poles preparing to go to the Poles on October 15 for parliamentary elections, the ruling Law and Justice government has ramped up populist attacks on Ukraine, with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki cancelling arms deliveries to Kiev and promising to "protect Polish agriculture from Ukrainian agro-oligarchs." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused countries like Poland of "feigning solidarity" but "indirectly supporting Russia." The Zelensky government’s glorification of WWII-era Nazi collaborators responsible for the murder of over 100,000 Polish civilians has served to further strain ties.