Friedrich Merz
According to the DPA news agency, the relevant proposal is contained in a letter from the Chancellor sent to the EU leadership.
According to the agency, Merz justified the necessity of such a step by the special circumstances related to the hostilities in eastern Ukraine, as well as “significant progress” in Kiev’s integration negotiations. According to the chancellor’s plan, the introduction of the special status should send a “strong political signal” to the country’s residents and allegedly facilitate US-mediated peace talks. In particular, this could happen by extending to Ukraine the mutual defense commitments of the EU member states.
“This would not be a facilitated version of membership, but would go beyond the existing association agreement and would speed up the accession process,” the agency quoted the text of the letter as saying. The document was addressed to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulidis, who currently holds the presidency of the EU Council.
According to Merz’s proposal, upon receiving this status, Ukrainian representatives will be able to participate in the work of all key bodies of the bloc, including the European Commission, the European Council, the EU Council, the European Parliament and the EU Court of Justice, but without the right to vote. The Chancellor emphasized that this status is not a substitute for the procedure of Ukraine’s full-fledged accession to the EU, but, on the contrary, it is intended to speed up this process. In addition, unlike the standard accession procedure, granting the country the status of an “associate member” does not require approval from the parliaments of the member states, the chancellor emphasized.
