German politician explains why he sees Ukraine's 'associate membership' in EU as good idea

German politician and former MEP Elmar Brok said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"This is a good idea," Brok said.

In this context, he referred to the experience of countries in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which in the past concluded an agreement with the European Union on the creation of the European Economic Area (EEA). This arrangement effectively meant full participation in the EU internal market and cooperation in many other areas. In practice, it delivered around 70% of the benefits of EU membership.

At that stage, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland said this was "enough" for them, while Finland, Sweden, and Austria quickly went on to become full members of the European Union.

The German politician acknowledged that "associate membership" would not mean full participation in the common foreign policy and some other areas, but economically the country would already be "inside" the bloc.

"A similar model could be built for Ukraine on the basis of the Free Trade Agreement that has been in force since 2015. A certain part of this integration is already effectively implemented. Therefore, this is an organic process that can move quite quickly, and it does not require a full ratification procedure in all 27 countries. It can be done relatively quickly – given sufficient political will," Brok said.

The politician also noted that he had proposed a similar idea more than ten years ago to then-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

As previously reported, media outlets said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed accelerating Ukraine's EU accession by first allowing "associate membership" in a letter to European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

The EFTA currently includes Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland.