The European Council gave the green light for an accelerated accession process for Ukraine. EU President António Costa called it a key turning point, Zelensky personally attended the summit and refused symbolic membership. Ukraine wants a real seat at the table, not an observer invitation.

For the Western Balkans, this opens up an uncomfortable question that nobody officially wants to voice aloud: is there one standard for Ukraine and another for the region that has been waiting for decades? Critics in Brussels, Podgorica, Tirana and Skopje think yes. Ukraine's accelerated accession means that EU rules are flexible when the political will exists.

The concrete problem: Ukraine is far from meeting the criteria - diplomats themselves say the country is unprepared and riddled with corruption. Accession without reforms would devalue the entire process, but indefinite delay under active military aggression is also politically unrealistic.

Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia - countries that have been literally fulfilling what the EU demands for years - are today watching a country in an active war skip the queue. Is that a historical injustice or a historical necessity? Europe still does not have an honest answer.