On 28 February 2022, a few days after the start of the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine applied for EU membership. Four months later, in June 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine the status of an official candidate country. But how realistic is Ukraine’s early accession in the light of the ongoing war? What concrete steps and reforms does Ukraine need to take to join the EU? And how can these be linked to the reconstruction of the country? The second Citizens’ Dialogue in the series “Europe in the Neighbourhood – Let’s talk beyond borders” on 21 July 2023  addressed these questions and offered citizens a platform for dialogue with Maria Mezentseva, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and Deputy Head of the Committee on European Integration, Michael Gahler, Member of the European Parliament (EPP) and Standing Rapporteur of the European Parliament on Ukraine, Dr. Yuliya Bidenko, Associate Professor at Karazin Kharkiv National University, and Dmytro Naumenko, Senior Analyst at the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy. 

The event was organised by Europa-Union Deutschland e.V. in cooperation with the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy. It is funded by the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt). The Citizens' Dialogue was moderated by Liubov Akulenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy.