On Tuesday, 25 November 2025, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, with the organisational support of the State Enterprise ‘Directorate-General for Rendering Services to Diplomatic Missions’, held a roundtable discussion titled Ukraine’s Path Towards EU Membership in 2025: Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects.
Hryhorii Perepelytsia, Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, full professor at the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of the Educational and Scientific Institute of International Relations (ESIIR) of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Doctor of Political Science, moderated the event. In his opening remarks, Mr Perepelytsia commented on the recent developments that prompted the roundtable:
‘On 4 November 2025, the European Commission published its report within the European Union’s 2024 Enlargement Package. It assesses what Ukraine has achieved and the progress it has made in the key areas as a candidate for European Union membership. Overall, Ukraine received a positive assessment, which we may regard as an encouraging start to our movement towards the European Union. We also take heart from the fact that Ukraine met 99 per cent of the EU’s requirements in the field of foreign policy and sanctions. This point also matters greatly for us, given that Ukraine remains at war as a result of russia’s aggression.’
Mr Perepelytsia also highlighted the report’s assessment of progress in the areas of justice, freedom, security and public administration.
Participants examined a wide range of issues: Ukraine’s interim progress towards EU membership, which exceeded initial expectations; whether the situation with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) serves as a litmus test for combating corruption and justice reform; the assessment of Ukraine’s advancement in EU integration reforms; the challenges slowing Ukraine’s movement towards EU membership; prospects for 2026; whether assessments of the United News national telethon as undemocratic under wartime conditions are objective; and environmental and security challenges as dimensions of Ukraine’s future prospects.
The speakers of the event were Ivan Nahorniak, Adviser at the Economic Recovery Centre, CIVITTA partner, expert on European integration, PhD in Political Science; Liubov Akulenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy; Nataliia Andrusevych, Chair of the Board of the Society and Environment Resource and Analysis Center; and Volodymyr Havrylov, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine (2022–23), Defence Attaché of Ukraine in the US (2015–18), Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reserve.
Mr Nahorniak focused on analysing the European Commission’s report within the EU Enlargement Package. He explained its methodology, political context and the main implications for Ukraine. He emphasised that the report encompasses all candidate countries and contains key recommendations on the rule of law, underscoring the crucial importance of addressing issues related to NABU and SAP for a favourable overall assessment. He identified Ukraine’s readiness to open three negotiation clusters as the key achievement, while also critically assessing several sections, including public administration reform. He described in detail the official screening process, which Ukraine underwent throughout the year, and emphasised the importance of its inclusive approach and the involvement of experts:
‘For the European Union, Ukraine’s further progress will matter most not only in aligning with EU law but, above all, in advancing the rule of law and ensuring the implementation of the reforms outlined in the so-called Rule of Law Roadmap’, Mr Nahorniak concluded.
Ms Akulenko noted that, despite the positive public communication surrounding the European Commission’s report, its content reveals serious difficulties for Ukraine in the fundamental cluster that determines its ability to join the EU. She identified the main problem not as corruption but as the lack of reform in state institutions, weak institutional capacity and the outflow of personnel, which intensifies due to chaotic ministerial reorganisations. She stressed that these structural challenges do not appear in the report, but they will ultimately determine Ukraine’s success in the negotiations, particularly when the country faces demanding obligations and the need to negotiate transitional periods. She called for far greater focus on public administration reform, arguing that without tangible progress, the negotiation process will advance slowly and Ukraine risks encountering new challenges, especially in the agricultural sector:
‘I am convinced that until we resolve the balance within the power triangle — the Presidential Office, the Government and Parliament — and until public service becomes a place where people queue for the opportunity to work, we will struggle to move forward in the negotiations. The war continues, and the European Union still does not know how to integrate us or what to do with us. Moreover, the agricultural sector may become our next challenge. Countries are usually “hit” in the sectors where they are strongest, so we must protect it.’
Ms Andrusevych emphasised that environmental issues often recede during wartime, but Ukraine must place them among its EU integration priorities. She warned that Ukraine should not expect notable progress in 2026 due to the shortage of specialists and weak institutional capacity. She encouraged policymakers to read the European Commission’s recommendations carefully, plan implementation in advance and avoid waiting for the end of the war. She highlighted the importance of horizontal environmental legislation, for which Ukraine will not be able to request transitional periods, and she stressed the significance of environmental security as part of a broader European security framework. She concluded that EU integration in the environmental sphere gives Ukraine a chance to rebuild the country in a more resilient, greener and modern way:
‘Environmental issues anchor our environmental security. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the European Union has clearly demonstrated the strengthened link between security, in its broader understanding, and environmental, climate, and energy security. I consider it positive that Ukraine has already joined the European Green Deal initiatives. We now have a greater opportunity to rebuild Ukraine as a greener, more sustainable and more environmentally resilient country through European integration and the adoption of these rules under Chapter 27.’
Mr Havrylov noted that the war exposed the European Union’s strategic weakness in security, as European countries long relied on the ‘NATO umbrella’ and did not invest in defence, which left them unable to respond quickly to the crisis in Ukraine. He emphasised that Ukraine effectively safeguards European security today, making its role critically important for the EU. He described the varying ability of EU member states to assist Ukraine and highlighted the leading industrial partners: Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries. He explained how Ukraine, despite its limited resources and driven by a strong civil society, has become a global leader in military technology, including innovations in drone warfare now being studied and emulated by the United States and Europe:
‘Inevitably, in the defence and security sector Ukraine will remain number one for the European Union and European countries for at least the next decade. Even after the war ends, they will continue to learn from our experience. Experts will travel to Ukraine in large numbers to gain a deeper understanding of these developments. This means that, in our integration with the European Union in defence and security, we will face no obstacles: they will remove them to ensure that we can offer something essential for their future development’, Mr Havrylov concluded.
Researchers, academics, students and diplomats actively joined the discussion.
