I love how they phrased this like the EU will pay all and the countries in question contribute nothing. They will be EU members. They will pay their dues.
The net result of enlargement is indubitably a net drain on EU finances, pretending otherwise is staggeringly dishonest. Their invasion is despicable, but the long road to EU accession should not be shortcut by the fact of Russian aggression. Pre-war Ukraine has myriad problems that have yet to be solved (massive corruption, for example) and are even harder to solve during wartime.
Supporting Ukraine militarily and financially against Russian aggression is morally and pragmatically the correct choice, but that does not necessarily mean membership of the EU - yet.
No one’s pretending otherwise, but to intimate allowing membership is a massive financial consequence that has zero net gain in any way, shape or form shows a complete failure to understand what the EU is. It smacks of being written from a very Americocentric standpoint.
I love how they phrased this like the EU will pay all and the countries in question contribute nothing. They will be EU members. They will pay their dues.
The net result of enlargement is indubitably a net drain on EU finances, pretending otherwise is staggeringly dishonest. Their invasion is despicable, but the long road to EU accession should not be shortcut by the fact of Russian aggression. Pre-war Ukraine has myriad problems that have yet to be solved (massive corruption, for example) and are even harder to solve during wartime.
Supporting Ukraine militarily and financially against Russian aggression is morally and pragmatically the correct choice, but that does not necessarily mean membership of the EU - yet.
No one’s pretending otherwise, but to intimate allowing membership is a massive financial consequence that has zero net gain in any way, shape or form shows a complete failure to understand what the EU is. It smacks of being written from a very Americocentric standpoint.
I literally work at the institutions. Of course there are some upsides. IMO they are still a long way from offsetting all the downsides.