Victor Pinchuk Foundation hosted a discussion ‘Reward of Sacrifice: EU Membership When?’ during the YES Special Gathering on February 24, 2026

On 24 February 2026, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and Yalta European Strategy (YES) held a discussion ‘Reward of Sacrifice: EU Membership When?’ during the YES gathering on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The panel addressed Ukraine’s European integration and posed a key question: is there a real plan for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union? Participants included, Commissioner for Enlargement of European Commission Marta Kos, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka, and other senior officials.

Opening the discussion, Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014); Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994); Co-Chair of ECFR; Member, YES Board, said: “When Poland joined the EU the Polish and Ukrainian economies were roughly the same size. GDP per capita was roughly the same. Now Poland has five times the GDP per capita than Ukraine. This economic growth would not have been possible without accession.

“The voice of France is particularly important. I remember France was immensely sceptical about Ukraine becoming a member of the EU. But France has shifted significantly with this war. That shift by France was key in getting EU accession moving for Ukraine.”

Gabriel Attal, Former Prime Minister of France, President of Parliamentary Friendship Group France-Ukraine, National Assembly of the French Republic, said: “I think what you call the scepticism from France regarding Ukraine’s accession to the EU in the past was more a belief that we should address these issues whilst addressing the reform of how EU works. However, “Since the beginning of the war it has become a priority to defend Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Ukraine is attacked by Russia because Ukraine defends freedom and democracy. These are the values of the EU. Ukraine has chosen the values of the EU over those of Russia. We have a responsibility.

“I defend the concept of reverse enlargement. Instead of waiting 10-15 years for Ukraine to do some reforms and do endless negotiations, we should allow Ukraine to join now, with at the beginning a seat at the table on some institutions, limited voting rights, and without access to all EU policies. Then, we can negotiate over access to policies. We can start with simple things like Erasmus, then we go deeper and deeper into the single market and the tough discussions on the big issues, like agriculture.”

Marta Kos, Commissioner for Enlargement, European Commission, said: “Ukraine is not stuck, we are very innovative. If we were in the logic of being stuck, we would not have the fastest screening ever. We wouldn’t be able to (informally) open three clusters, with more to come soon. But the big question is when membership will come?

“We have to admit that the enlargement methodology we have today is made for peacetime - when candidates have enough time to make all reforms. We don’t have this time today. Enlargement has been the most successful foreign policy of the EU, but we have been stuck in the past because it has not been the priority.”

“The main idea of the EU is to have PEACE. I am so sad that we have sometimes seen these processes through an economic lens. What we can gain from enlargement today is peace. There has never been a conflict on the territory of EU. There have been wars in Europe, in Slovenia, in Bosnia-Herzegovina and now in Ukraine. We haven’t been able to stop wars in Europe. We should not forget that the EU is a peace project and Ukraine is contributing already for future peace all around Europe,” she added.

Taras Kachka, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, told: “We will not make the EU weaker. Ukraine has made the EU stronger. We have been defending the EU for many years, with your support. Even if we join today, we will not make the EU weaker.”

He continued, “You cannot scare us with these ‘acquis’. We are implementing acquis from 2014 when we started to apply the association agreement. All policies in Ukraine, energy, statistics, etc. are based on the acquis. Ukraine is not looking for any shortcuts. We are doing this absolutely seriously. On the Rule of Law, anti-corruption, all our institutions are operating, it is a question of maintaining and improving on these things. We agreed a list of priorities and benchmarks and we will DO THIS. Before and after accession.

“Ukraine is sober but optimistic in its assessment,” he concluded.

Speaking from the audience, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of the Republic of Poland (1995-2005); Chairman of the YES Board, said, “Don’t compare this enlargement to Poland’s accession in 2004. It is a different time in history, we have Putin, Russia, aggression, the war, etc. etc. In 2003 I met the Pope in the Vatican, what he said was crucial, “Poland needs Europe. Europe needs Poland.” Today I repeat it. “Ukraine needs Europe, and we, Europe, we need Ukraine.” That’s the point.”

The YES Special Gathering on February 24 is a platform for an honest conversation about the price of freedom, the limits of endurance, and shared responsibility for the future of Europe. Four years on from the full-scale invasion, Ukraine remains on the front lines not only of its independence, but also of the security of the entire democratic world.

Photos are available here 

Video will be on YouTube  www.youtube.com/user/PinchukFoundation