August 17, 2026

Europe is entering a new cycle of existential choices – on defence, competitiveness, enlargement and institutional reform. Yet the same question keeps returning: can the Union still act at the scale and speed its environment demands? The European Union was never meant to ‘finish’. It was built to endure. Unlike a nation-state, it does not move towards a final constitutional endpoint – despite recurring debates about the EU’s finalité. Unlike an alliance, it is not defined by a single threat. Unlike an international organisation, it cannot remain neutral about its members’ internal politics. The EU is, by design, a permanent experiment in shared sovereignty – a system that must constantly adjust its rules, bargains and legitimacy to remain functional in a changing world. In short: the EU is an infinite project.

According to recent reporting, EU leaders are considering ways to bring Ukraine into the European Union as early as 2027 – before all technical accession requirements are formally completed. The proposal, described in Brussels as “reverse enlargement”, reflects a growing conviction that Ukraine’s place in the EU can no longer be treated as a distant aspiration, but as a matter of geopolitical urgency. This conviction is justified. After four years of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression, Kyiv’s path into the EU is inseparable from Europe’s own security and credibility.

The discussion focused on the Moldovan government’s efforts to develop strategic security and defence partnerships, strengthen national preparedness and institutional resilience, and deepen cooperation on energy security. It addressed challenges arising from Russia’s war against Ukraine, including the likely intensification of the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare and Moldova’s need for continued EU and international support. In addition, the briefing examined the key reforms Moldova intends to advance in 2026 as part of its EU accession agenda.

Europe is entering a new cycle of existential choices – on defence, competitiveness, enlargement and institutional reform. Yet the same question keeps returning: can the Union still act at the scale and speed its environment demands? The European Union was never meant to ‘finish’. It was built to endure. Unlike a nation-state, it does not move towards a final constitutional endpoint – despite recurring debates about the EU’s finalité. Unlike an alliance, it is not defined by a single threat. Unlike an international organisation, it cannot remain neutral about its members’ internal politics. The EU is, by design, a permanent experiment in shared sovereignty – a system that must constantly adjust its rules, bargains and legitimacy to remain functional in a changing world.

Europe’s instinct to reaffirm its democratic values, commitment to the UN Charter, and defence of the rules-based international order is understandable – and necessary. In an age of open aggression and transactional power politics, moral clarity still matters.  But clarity alone is not enough. The danger today is not that liberal democracy is naïve or obsolete. It is that Europe increasingly confuses the articulation of values with the exercise of power. Liberal democracy is defended as a creed, not enforced as a system –  at a moment when many actors, both inside and outside the European Union, are playing by entirely different rules.

The concept of gradual integration has long been embedded in the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement, providing for progressive access to the EU Single Market. While Ukraine has made significant progress over ten years of implementation, particularly in the energy sector, the goal of becoming an integral part of the Single Market has not yet been fully realised in other sectors. Following the granting of EU candidate status, discussions on gradual economic integration have regained momentum. Accelerated integration across strategic sectors could serve mutual interests and incentivise Ukraine to advance its alignment with EU standards even before full accession.