Albania's PM: EU Is Lying to Ukraine About Membership Prospects

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has made a blunt assessment of Ukraine's European Union membership prospects, calling the promises made to Kyiv by EU leaders fundamentally dishonest. Speaking in an interview with Welt, Rama — whose country has itself been navigating the lengthy EU accession process — drew a sharp contrast with the treatment of East Germany after 1989, which joined the EU without going through all 33 negotiation chapters. Look at Ukraine. What they are being promised is a lie, Rama stated. They will never be admitted through the ordinary accession process with all criteria met. Everyone knows this. The realistic solution would be to bring Ukraine into the negotiations now and grant it full membership based on merit. Rama's remarks come as Ukraine continues its formal accession negotiations with the European Union. Earlier this week, Ukraine's parliament registered a draft law on education in minority languages, designed to help lift Hungary's veto on two clusters of negotiation chapters. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha expressed hope that the passage of legislative changes would lead Hungary to unblock the two pending clusters.