Political analyst Ruslan Bortnik commented on the European Commission’s idea to create roadmaps for EU candidate countries and assessed whether this would benefit Ukraine or instead freeze the process, Politeka reports.

He said this in his blog.

“I support this approach because a roadmap is a specific set of requirements that you meet and then move forward. Europe has long avoided this scenario, but if Ukraine were given a roadmap, our EU accession process would have clear deadlines. Ukraine needs to join the European Union; I believe this is one of the key instruments for ending the war,” Ruslan Bortnik explains.

At the same time, the expert argues that even if such EU accession roadmaps are introduced, then, obviously, for Moldova, Albania, and Montenegro it will be a direct journey from point A to point B, while for Ukraine it will be a path through a labyrinth. In other words, he notes, the candidates will certainly have different lengths of the journey, different numbers and sets of points, checkpoints, roadblocks along the way, and so on.

“But in any case, a roadmap is a specific document with specific requirements that will make Ukraine’s accession process to the European Union somewhat simpler, more realistic, and more transparent,” Ruslan Bortnik argues.

Nevertheless, the expert notes that the issue of corruption remains — it is like a warning bell for the authorities. Moreover, he emphasizes that, according to a KIIS poll, even Ukrainians are more concerned about the inefficiency and corruption of the Ukrainian authorities than about Russian shelling. This says something. And this same polling data, the expert notes, ends up on the desks of European officials, with these problems raising even more questions about Ukraine.