Croatian PM: any change to EU accession methodology for Ukraine must apply to other candidate countries, including Georgia

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday said that if the European Union adopted a new, geopolitically driven methodology for Ukraine’s accession, the same rules must extend to all candidate countries - including Georgia - to ensure fairness.

In his interview with Radio Free Europe, Plenković addressed the ongoing debate over EU enlargement methodology amid discussions on accelerating Ukraine’s path to membership.

“If we change the methodology to a geopolitical approach, then the situation will not change only with regard to Ukraine. I support Ukraine, but the changes must apply to everyone. This would cause a big bang [enlargement], and we have not had a big bang for many years”, he said.

He clarified that his remarks referred to all states granted candidate status, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.

Plenković also noted that countries such as Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey were technically more advanced in the accession process than Ukraine, having opened negotiation chapters and undergone years of alignment with EU legislation.