Norwegian researchers have identified five factors that are likely to prevent Ukraine from quickly joining the European Union, as was stated in an interview they gave with the TV channel NRK.
Ukraine submitted its official application for EU membership on February 28, four days after Russia attacked the country. EU leaders are expected to issue a decision during the bloc’s summit on June 23-24 about whether to give Kiev candidate status. The unanimous support of all 27 member nations is needed for the status to be granted.
To enter the EU, a country must have “full democracy, the rule of law and a free market,” said Jarle Trondal, an EU expert and professor of political science at the universities of Oslo and Agder. However, Ukraine even prior to the Russian offensive was “an extremely shaky country,” he noted.
The first obstacle on Ukraine’s road to the EU is widespread corruption, Jorn Holm-Hansen, a Ukraine expert and researcher at Oslo Metropolitan University, claimed. He explained that from this point of view the situation in Ukraine is worse than even in the most corrupt countries of the EU. According to the Amnesty International Corruption Perception Index, Ukraine’s 2021 score was down by 1 point versus 2020 and is now 32 on a 100-point scale. Bulgaria, the most corrupt country in the EU according to the index, has a score of 42.