Here's how the EU will benefit from Ukraine's accession

The European Union has given the green light to membership talks for Ukraine and Moldova, signaling a step forward in EU expansionism and, quite possibly, future reform processes.
Ukraine and Moldova are two strategically crucial countries, although they also represent the poorest nations on the continent.
Membership in the European Union, the largest common market on the planet with a combined GDP of $18.35 trillion, would guarantee Ukraine a peaceful and prosperous future.
Some analysts argue, however, that it will completely change Europe's political landscape, and not necessarily in a good way.
Ukraine would become the country with the largest population to join the EU since the 1980s.
This would give it a lot of voting power within EU institutions, which often function on a demographic basis.
read also European Council, the EU begins accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova At the same time, Ukraine is a country devastated by war.
According to the World Bank, the total amount needed to rebuild the country is $400 billion, which EU net taxpayers would have to bear in the event of accession.
To put that into perspective, Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU, but its GDP per capita is still double that of Ukraine.
Not to mention the current state of the war.
If, as seems likely, the conflict against Russia were to freeze on the current front line without any peace agreement, the EU would bring within its borders a country at war with a nuclear power.
Despite all these challenges, however, Ukraine's inclusion in the EU could bring long-term positive effects.
A new Poland? The EU's eastward expansion began in the 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact.
The countries that joined the EU then, including Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Baltic Republics, were not in a much better position than Ukraine today.
Over the next 30 years, however, these countries experienced some of the fastest economic growth in the world.
Poland is now a solid and influential economy, while Western European countries are falling into recession.
In fact, the main reason why the EU's GDP continues to grow is precisely thanks to the countries of the East.
read also Banks, justice and Ukraine: the new Slovakia by Robert Fico Looking even further back, when the United States financed the growth of Western Europe with the Marshall Plan, it did so with the benefit of both continents in mind.
After all, this is the very definition of investing: spending money to make money.
It will be extremely costly for the European Union to rebuild the Ukrainian economy, but having one of the world's largest exporters of wheat and cereals within the single market will also bring huge benefits to the EU.
Ukraine's growth will strengthen Europe's growth.
This is how post-conflict reconstruction works.
Article published on Money.it international edition on 2023-12-15 19:00:00.
Original title: Here's why the EU will benefit from Ukraine's access in the long term