Home / News / Quick Impressions: Kyiv by Klara Lindström

"Quick Impressions" is a format through which SCEEUS shares impressions from far and near: travel, events, and exchanges. First up is Klara Lindström, who recently returned from Kyiv. 

Bild2

One month into my new role as an analyst at SCEEUS with a special focus on Ukraine’s EU integration, I travelled to Kyiv. I went there to speak on a panel about the security dimensions of enlargement at the EU Accession Exchange Forum, an annual conference that is organised by our colleagues at the New Europe Centre, one of the key think tanks in Ukraine.  

The enthusiasm in Kyiv to get into the substance of the EU accession talks was palpable. “Wartime is the best time for politicians to deliver results”, as Olga Stefanishyna, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine, emphasised. But many whom I spoke to admitted that the integration process now goes from a sprint to a marathon – it will take time and resources for Ukraine to implement the EU acquis and for the bureaucratic process of opening and closing chapters to be successfully completed. 

Kiev 10

The participants at the conference agreed that EU enlargement is a geostrategic investment that can make Europe stronger and more secure. Yet, it was admitted that the road ahead is fraught with challenges: it requires not only strong political will and internal reforms from all parties but also, many argued, a readiness on the EU’s part to assume the role of a geopolitical actor that is capable of offering credible security commitments to the candidate states. As Stefanishyna said, it must not be forgotten that the real challenge for Ukraine on its way to the EU is the ongoing war. Without security, EU integration is a mirage.  

To finish, I would like to say a few words about Kyiv, one of my favourite cities. I had not been in Kyiv since 2021, and now, almost 1000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion, much was different. The new elements in the cityscape were unmistakable: sandbags outside doors, statues covered with wooden panels, fewer adult men, a constant readiness for air raid alarms. But nonetheless, Kyiv remained as hip, vibrant, and alive as I remembered it.  

Despite the war, Ukraine is becoming one of Europe's most entrepreneurial and digitised economies, with access to many strategic resources and with an advanced defence industrial sector. There is a convincing case to make that failing to invest in Ukraine would be a lost opportunity for a European Union in dire need of increasing its economic growth and competitiveness. 

Klara Lindström

Share

RELATED NEWS