Maybe 10 years on the EU, but 20-25 years seems like an absurdly long period of time.
Not sure if Juncker remembers the Copenhagen Treaty signing of 1994, which is when existing EU member states agreed that if 10 transition economies (Poland, Hungary, et al) met the Copenhagen Criteria by 2004, they could join the EU.
My sneaking suspicion at the time was it was seen as a cheap promise by the EU then as the 10 transition economies were just so far behind in terms of development that no one actually thought they would succeed.
But they did, and what we learned from that is countries need a realistic goal of EU membership if they are to reform and really change.
And I would argue the biggest success of the EU has been in forcing massive change and reform in emerging Europe by giving clear goals and target dates for membership and then blueprints for reform and change as represented by the acquis.
Note though tat this reform anchor seems to be being denied Ukraine by Juncker and why?
Is he afraid of annoying Russia, or EU voters?
But why should Russia have a veto in effect on Ukraine’s hopes and ambitions for economic reform towards the Western market norm and towards Western democratic standards as per the Copenhagen criteria.
Juncker seems to be waving his own white piece of paper here, his Munich moment perhaps.
And why is Ukraine different to Turkey, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Macedonia in wanting to reform to and live by European standards.
Not sure about Juncker but my relatives fought to defend European values in at least two world wars.
And not sure that Juncker has the right or mandate to make such utterances.
I, and many others would argue that Ukraine is currently in such a pitiful state precisely because the EU failed to give Ukraine a real European perspective back in 2004 at the time of the Orange Resolution – also when the likes of Poland and Hungary were joining the EU, after meeting Copenhagen criteria.
I covered these economies back in 1994, and don’t see Ukraine as being that far behind, and think that with a 10 clear perspective, clear EU membership anchor and real EU membership perspective that they can do what Poland and Hungary did in the decade following the signing of the Copenhagen Treaty back in 1994.
Juncker needs to create hope, not yet more barriers for Ukraine.
