Why formal accession negotiations with Ukraine should start with energy and climate

Susanne Nies is Project Lead and Olha Bondarenko is Senior Energy Policy Officer of the Green Deal Ukraїna project at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. Maciej Zaniewicz leads the International Cooperation Program at Forum Energii, Warsaw.

Is the EU heading for another big bang enlargement by 2030, like in 2004 when Central Europe, Malta and the Republic of Cyprus joined? Will there be full membership, or rather participation in the so-called four freedoms of the single market: the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour? Are there additional options for fast and deep integration?

Ukraine is the largest of the candidate countries after Turkey, both in terms of population (40 million) and the sheer size of the country and its economy. It has about three times the surface, twice the population and 50% more GDP than the six others together.

Joining the EU has become even more important for Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Driving the aggressor out of the country while failing to join the democratic EU bloc would be no less than remaining exposed to a permanent threat. Ukrainian policymakers, as well as those in the EU, have understood this: Despite the war, rapid and deep reforms are on the way. Integration into the EU means winning the peace and ensuring Europe’s common security against today’s hostile Russia.

Ukraine has been working through the EU acquis in the Association Agreement process since 2014, accelerated further since February 2022. It has been granted candidate status and was formally invited to negotiations by the EU Council in December 2023. This was an important milestone for both sides.

What comes next? How to ensure success?

The start of formal accession negotiations will have to be decided based on the so-called negotiating framework drawn up by the European Commission, which will lead to the first intergovernmental Ukraine – EU conference: the start of negotiations.

The EU acquis is divided into six clusters covering 35 chapters, such as Agriculture and Rural Development or Climate and Environment. Our Green Deal Ukraїna Roadmap on energy and climate: Ukraine towards the EU, released in December 2023, explains steps and process in detail.

But where to start? The authors strongly advocate starting formal negotiations with the Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity clusters, and here Energy and Climate. Why? And why not start with the chapters agriculture, statistics, or fisheries?

There are five obvious reasons:

First, and more generally, the Green Deal and energy are cross-cutting issues in industry, agriculture, transport, etc. The Green Deal 2019 sets the tone for a climate-neutral Europe, and any new member, any close partner of the EU, is expected to be in line with this.

Secondly, Ukraine is already well advanced in the energy field, as recently – again – the progress report on enlargement (November 2023) confirms that Ukraine has a “good level” of preparation in the energy field. What is more, The Ukraine Plan, detailing how Ukraine intends to use the €50bn Ukraine Facility, is emphasising energy reform.

Despite the war and constant attacks, the excellent technical experts from Ukraine have been able to synchronise their electricity system with continental Europe and steadily restore their energy system and even join ENTSO-E, the common organisation of transmission system operators in Brussels. Despite the war, more concrete steps have been taken: On January 16, for the first time, electricity capacities were auctioned between Poland and Ukraine according to EU rules. And the Polish-Ukrainian Rzeszów-Khmelnytskyi line should be mentioned as an example of the high symbolic value of infrastructure in war: A bridge, not a barrier, is the clear message here. Let us not forget to praise the Vienna-based Energy Community for its many years of successful and continuous support for Ukraine’s alignment with the EU energy acquis: this has helped the country gain time to get to where it is today.

Thirdly, private investment in energy and infrastructure is urgently needed to build back better, i.e. cleaner. This requires a transparent and reliable framework: this is what a successfully concluded Chapters 15 (Energy) and 27 (Climate and Environment) can greatly contribute to.

Fourth, a priority on energy and climate bridge between the immediate short-term need (energy security, but also build back better) and the imperative of membership negotiations. Further advancing on the already well-progressed file means also opening an opportunity to align on energy and climate with the EU even before Ukraine formally joins either the single market or the EU fully (or one ahead of the other). Such a focus is, therefore, on buying time, celebrating success, and mobilising investors and decision-makers.

Fifth, closer integration in the energy and climate area is mutually beneficial. It will facilitate energy trade and reduce the cost of it. Yet, challenges such as the ETS, the proper power market, inefficient state companies, reaching the RES targets, or energy efficiency should not be overlooked: they do exist, and projects like Green Deal Ukraїna are precisely there to help find solutions.

A focus on agriculture, on other areas of the Acquis instead of energy and climate, will not have the same fast impact as the energy system that Ukraine has already partly formed part of since synchronisation. And as said, the overarching energy and climate focus also leads to more efficiency in many other chapters.

Therefore, the authors argue for opening the energy and climate chapters at the same time to make interrelated progress here.

What does all this mean for both the EU and Ukraine?

Focusing on energy and climate means nothing less than building the common Europe through a pragmatic more for more approach: just as Ukraine could join ENTSO-E as a full member in 2023, it can be part of the energy market and climate framework whenever it is ready. It can adopt a climate law and join a regional electricity market.

Ukraine is the first candidate to the EU that is at once defending itself against a savage invasion. Negotiations will run parallel to military defence: short-term survival and medium- and long-term vision must go hand in hand A stable, prosperous Ukraine at the EU’s eastern border is in the interests of citizens of EU and Ukraine alike.

Ukraine is living in a different, let’s call it existentialist, time zone: successful, deep, and rapid integration into the democratic and liberal EU, starting with energy and climate, is the opportunity not to be missed. Energy and Climate Union, before membership.

Source: https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/opinion/why-formal-accession-negotiations-with-ukraine-should-start-with-energy-and-climate/