Nordics, Baltics urge concrete steps toward Ukraine's EU membership

Six EU member countries are urging the European Union to provide concrete steps to accelerate Ukraine's accession process, Politico reported on March 18, citing a joint letter it had obtained.

In the letter, the foreign ministers of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia called on Brussels to put forward "concrete proposals on how to decisively advance Ukraine's accession process."

Ukraine applied for EU membership in 2022 and was granted candidate status within months. Accession talks began in June 2024, with European leaders setting 2030 as a target for Ukraine's potential entry.

"Reaffirming full and unequivocal commitment to the EU membership perspective of Ukraine, we call for accelerating the accession process," the letter reads. "The time has come for ambitious and effective decisions in this regard."

The diplomats emphasized that EU enlargement should remain "predictable and based on own merits" and that bilateral disputes should not be used to block progress but instead resolved through good-faith dialogue.

Despite broad EU support for Ukraine's accession, Hungary remains a major obstacle. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on March 7 that his government would conduct an opinion survey on Ukraine's potential EU membership.

Orban, widely regarded as the EU's most Russian-friendly leader, has repeatedly opposed military aid for Ukraine and warned that Kyiv's accession would "destroy" Hungary. He has also maintained warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Russia's full-scale invasion, frequently amplifying Kremlin narratives in Europe.