EU not ready for Eastern Partnership membership, but prospects remain

The countries of the European Union and Eastern Partnership are not ready to discuss the membership of the latter in the EU, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters at the May 21 Eastern partnership summit in Riga. Yet at the same time, the prospects for their future membership remains, he said.

“This is not a meeting concerning EU membership,” he said of the Eastern Partnership, consisting of six countries including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. “But we have to make sure that the European perspective exists for each and every one of the countries. They are not ready. We are not ready. And the course is on its way.”

Zenon Zawada: At least one Russian and one Ukrainian news agency misquoted Juncker stating that “the European perspective does not exist” for any of the Eastern Partnership countries. Instead, he repeated the standard remarks about them not being ready currently, but their prospects for membership remain in the future. We are confident that the EU will not sacrifice the prospects of EU membership for the Eastern Partnership countries in order to satisfy Russia.