I have the impression that Europe is beginning to see Zelenskyy and his government more clearly.
Not Ukraine. Not Ukrainians. And certainly not Ukraine’s European future.
I mean the political practice of the current government in Kyiv — and the growing gap between ambitious public declarations and the institutional reality required to deliver them.
Marta Kos’s recent interview with Corriere della Sera is a small but rather revealing example.
On 2 October, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement was asked whether Ukraine could join the European Union next year.
Her answer was unusually straightforward:
“The date of 1 January 2027 was set by President Zelenskyy.”
And then:
“Accession is based on the principle of merit: it is clear that this date is not possible.”
She added another sentence that may be even more important:
“There are no privileges or discounts in the accession process.”
Eight months earlier, the tone was noticeably different.
On 29 January, Kos was asked whether she shared Zelenskyy’s desire for Ukraine to become an EU member in 2027.
Her answer:
“It is not only his desire. It is also my desire and the desire of many member states.”
In February, she went further. While acknowledging that 1 January 2027 was impossible under the existing methodology, she argued that the methodology itself had been designed for peacetime and that Europe needed to find a way to bridge the gap between the existing rules and the new geopolitical reality.
That distinction matters.
In January and February, the discussion was about how Europe might adapt the process to make faster accession possible.
By October, the emphasis is different: merit, conditions, rules, no privileges, no discounts — and an explicit distancing from the 1 January 2027 deadline.
I do not see this as a reason to criticise Marta Kos. Nor do I see it as evidence that Europe is turning away from Ukraine.
Quite the opposite.
I think Europe may finally be learning to separate two very different things: support for Ukraine and political trust in the Zelenskyy government.
Ukraine’s European future should not depend on any particular president or government.
EU membership is not a political gift. It is the result of institutions, rule of law, independent checks and balances, functioning anti-corruption mechanisms and reforms that exist not in presentations to Brussels, but in practice.
And perhaps European policymakers are increasingly looking beyond Kyiv’s announcements and asking a much simpler question:
What has actually been delivered?
If that is what is happening, I consider it a healthy development — both for Europe and for Ukraine.
In the long run, it may be exactly what genuine European integration requires.
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