Can the EU Afford to Wait? Why Ukraine’s Membership Is a Strategic Imperative — Public International Law & Policy Group

“*Final Thought: A Moment of Decision*

In 2004, the EU acted boldly, welcoming [ten new members](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_04_559) because the time was right—and because Europe was willing. In 2025, Ukraine is proving daily that it is ready. What it needs is for Europe to be willing again.

Europe has made political decisions before—to bring in Greece, Spain, and Portugal to defend democracy. Ukraine does not seek vague declarations. It seeks the kind of decisive political act that brought Poland and the Baltics into the EU: one rooted in shared sacrifice, performance under pressure, and strategic necessity.

This is not about breaking the EU’s rules. It is about fulfilling its purpose.

If Ukraine’s courage under fire is not enough to merit integration, then what remains of the EU’s promise?

Now is the time for moral clarity and geopolitical foresight—to show that the EU is not just a market of convenience, but a union of values. To delay would not be neutral—it would be a failure of Robert Shuman’s vision that “world peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.”

Ukraine’s membership would not stretch the Union. It would strengthen it.

Not someday. But now.”