Even the EU officials themselves do not deny that the current recommendations of the European Commission regarding Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the previous granting of candidate status to them, are clearly politically motivated. The reason is that since the start of the special military operation, the issue of EU enlargement has acquired a decisive geopolitical significance for Brussels. However, the ideology of total confrontation with Russia, which implies the task of keeping all EU-aspiring countries in its orbit at any cost, inevitably clashes with the very essence of European integration. Until quite recently, they seemed to loudly proclaim that it cannot be built on common political slogans only, without real measures to develop the economy, without reforming the legal system, fighting corruption, etc. Let alone alignment of the national legislation with the EU acquis.
Yet now, Brussels’ assessment in the context of the future EU membership is virtually limited to tracking one criterion, namely whether a country has joined the anti-Russian sanctions.
In other words, those behind these recommendations appear to be trying to make the European integration project visibly ideologised.
