If the leaders of the European Union listened only to their hearts, they would have fully accepted Ukraine into the organization at the summit to be held in Brussels this month.. As French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We feel in our hearts that Ukraine, because of its struggle and courage, is already today a member of our Europe, our family and our association.”.

According to these sentiments, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, left for Kyiv in April and personally handed President Volodymyr Zelensky an application form for EU membership.. However, Europeans have not only a heart, but also a head.. And the heads of many leaders and Eurocrats, including Macron, are swaying from side to side rather than nodding in agreement..

The author notes that if full membership is given to Ukraine right now, this will create many new problems for the EU, which has never been a model of effective governance.. These problems can split or even destroy the union.. This also applies to the potential membership of Moldova and Georgia or even Albania, North Macedonia and other Balkan countries.. The rush to bring these countries into the EU is not only a bad idea because their economies, judiciaries and other state institutions are not yet ready for it. It would also be an irresponsible act, also because the EU itself has not resolved the internal tension between what Eurocrats call "

After each of the seven expansions that turned the original European association of six countries into a union of 27 states, the management of the entire organization became more problematic and cumbersome.. Increasing number of institutions and commissions is the smallest of problems. The EU has become a Babylon filled with chaos of traditions, languages \u200b\u200band national interests. The real problem is that the EU, as it grew, has not reviewed its agreements carefully enough to allow it to remain consistent and address real problems..

[see_also ids\u003d"

Often one country is able to block joint action, even if there is an urgent need for it.. A flagrant case was the recent behavior of Hungary, which blocked the sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia for six weeks and supported it only after blackmailing 26 countries into mercenary or even strange concessions.. Structural weaknesses doom the EU to failure when it comes to tackling big problems. Due to the lack of a common tax policy, the organization barely saved its monetary union during the eurozone crisis.. And no one guarantees that in the event of a new crisis, the euro will withstand.

The EU was bitterly divided over its failure to reform its migration regime during the 2015 refugee influx.. On the issue of diplomacy and defense, the European Union is generally a joke (unlike individual participating countries). And thank God the West still has another organization based in Brussels called NATO. Most crises, of course, had external causes: from the financial crisis in the United States and the influx of refugees from Syria to Vladimir Putin's decision to move to full totalitarianism. But shocks are also quite internal..

For years, Brussels was angry at Warsaw and Budapest, where populists undermined the rule of law and other democratic institutions.. But there are no mechanisms in the EU to kick out disobedient members. They are hard to punish. These institutional shortcomings are repeated in the Kafkaesque process of admitting new members to the EU.. The accession of countries lasts for decades, during which the candidate countries must pass all the laws of the union, get rid of corruption and achieve compliance with other standards. But when they have already joined the EU, Brussels cannot prevent the reverse process from starting..

Worse, the EU can't even fix its operating system. Because the participating countries did not even agree on the question of what kind of union should be. United States of Europe? Remain only a common market? Something in the middle between the first and second option? The way out of this chaos is to formalize the old proposal for a " A group of countries that want deeper integration should do it. Those who do not want closer cooperation in some areas should continue to participate in other processes. Who knows, maybe in time they will change their minds.. This already works in some contexts. For example, 26 Schengen countries have completely opened their borders to each other, without even requiring passport control when traveling.. But it is important to note that four of them: Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are not EU members.. And five EU countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland are not in the Schengen area.

[see_also ids\u003d"

This approach can be a solution, especially if flexibility is provided. National interests change over time. Denmark at one time refused to participate in a joint EU defense policy. But when Putin began to play Genghis Khan, Copenhagen held a referendum and decided that he would still join this initiative.. The same flexibility can solve most of the problems that exist in the EU accession protocol.. Instead of the binary nature of membership, according to which the country or part of the union or not, integration should become a phased. If a candidate country improves, for example, its energy or financial market, it will be able to enjoy the full privileges of EU membership in these areas, but not participate in agricultural or foreign policy. Countries that have already joined the union are afraid that such a multi-level structure will divide them into "

However, this will not be the goal or result of such changes.. The continent has not become less respectful or cooperative with Switzerland or Norway because they are only members of the European Free Trade Association, not the EU. At the same time, countries like Hungary, constantly complaining about the oppression from Brussels, can take a step back and move away from the Brussels orbit, but not completely fly out of the unified political space on the continent.. The UK, which has left the EU, may want to join the European confederation in its new form.

" It is made up of many national identities and remains open to new.

All this must be acknowledged. Perhaps this is what Macron had in mind when he vaguely referred to the “European Political Community” that should complement the EU.. Such a Europe, consisting of many but harmonious “unions”, is, according to the author, the future. The best way to start building it is not to prematurely admit Ukraine to the EU. We need to accept Ukrainians into the European brotherhood right now and start rebuilding the whole family so that it becomes flexible and strong.