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[Strongpoint]

Seems like a weird thing to be worrying about while the country is being bombed.

Yep. I'd very much prefer our parliament being busy... i dunno... pass laws to mitigate the effects of the economy collapsing?

There is one other thing that bothers me... With this kind of accelerated wartime voting, parliament can vote nearly anything because people are kinda busy with fighting for survival and don't care much about.

Thankfully, our constitution says that the constitution can't be changed during martial law.

[Starver]

The nature of this legislation aside (not sure I know enough about it to believe much of either the hype or the counter-hype, but it sounds like it annoys the kind of people that I don't mind being annoyed, before we get to the Ukrainian spin to it, even), the alternative to things like this being passed "when more important things need to be given attention to" is for total focus upon only "the war" and to shove loads of other useful or even necessary non-war stuff into the long grass because "the time is not right for...", "our priority at the moment is...", other phrases that are essentially saying "we cannot possibly do two things at once..." or even "we had our chance, and that time has now gone, we must move on to the new challenges..."

I've seen enough of that from my own government.

I find it a good sign that the... (checks...) 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada and all their staffers aren't all of them all 24/7 devoted to merely the war (aside from the obvious "too many cooks" problems, if they were!) but can indeed do things that are 'normal', and show that the country isn't so much besieged mentally as well as physically.

Obviously, it'd be bad if only "displacement activities" were being discussed, too, but I take it that this has been in the air before the invasion started and that (without too much shift in schedule, if any) it at least wasn't hastily brought out of nowhere to distract everyone or keep them busy while the top-tier just coldly planned which Russian city to obliterate first...

[Strongpoint]

Ukraine got the status of the EU candidate! I am so excited. All our problems are solved!

...

(not)

[nenjin]

If it's accepted before Russia retreats or Ukraine falls, does that mean EU member states are obligated to provide more direct support for the war?

[hector13]

It will likely take upwards of 10 years before Ukraine can actually join the EU.

[martinuzz]

The EU is an economic and political union, not a military alliance

[Strongpoint]

Post-war Ukraine will be a mess, politically, economically, socially... This is why I see this status as very symbolic with no real meaning. Ukraine won't be a member of the EU any time soon.

[King Zultan]

So why waste time on getting into the EU if it won't actually help with the war effort?

[Strongpoint]

So why waste time on getting into the EU if it won't actually help with the war effort?

Well, it does boost morale of Ukrainians who are less pessimistic realistic than me.

[Il Palazzo]

You can generally do more than one thing at any time.

[hector13]

When one of those things is organizing a fight against the genocide of your people, probably best to focus on that, and not things that won’t materialize for a decade or so, in large part because of that fight against the genocide of your people.

[Grim Portent]

It's not exactly something that takes away from the war effort. It's not like the politicians and civil servants involved were pulled away from the frontlines or were involved in coordinating military actions.

Really there's a large portion of Ukraine who can't do anything to help with the war other than just keep the ordinary course of life going, and strenghening ties with the EU is one of the things they've decided is part of that.

[Starver]

(Started to be written @Hector, but meanders once I get behond the first sentence/paragraph...)

But to never consider beyond the immediate issue..?

I think there are many hurdles, and I think that reconstruction (in the not unhoped for futures, at least) and internal reconciliations and (possibly[1]) dealing with any unacceptable pre-existing issues of corruption and the like... they cannot be indefinitely deferred from consideration. Difficult to plan ahead, but also an important message to all concerned to consider it a possibility. Provocative to Russia (be careful with that, they may violently take against it and decide to ...invade? Oh, wait!) and strengthens ties to those that have already pledged (to varying degrees) their support.


The big problem is the dissenters within the EU (one major suspect, on that line, and possibly others, but maybe more "Match, Skinhead and 3-D" to the quite obvious Biff Tannen), or indeed NATO, who will counter even a reasonable opportunity in the future if Ukraine has fixed its current issues but other places have not. (Or at least still have a powerplaying head of state, which time may also manage to cure by one or another outcome.)




[1] I have no knowledge of such things, save that I would expect them in any government system (including my own). And, with the prejudice born of the West, very much so in those systems only recently dragged out from the Soviet system, with hold-outs and claw-backs alike fearing the more idealistic practices of democracy, or usurping and using those less savoury aspects. The irony is that Ukraine has done quite well to actually emerge from under the old non-Western system, unlike some notable neighbours, which is of course much of what has frightened those neighbours' more despotic rulers[2]. In other parts of the world we have seen successful popular revolutions do much worse.

[2] And now, in turn, these rulers' actions have frightened other leaders of nations that, by my understanding, are nowhere near as reformed/reforming as Ukraine. Which is a strange scenario.

[EuchreJack]

The EU is an economic and political union, not a military alliance

Not quite accurate, as the EU does have a mutual defense clause AND a standing army.

[Strongpoint]

It's not exactly something that takes away from the war effort. It's not like the politicians and civil servants involved were pulled away from the frontlines or were involved in coordinating military actions.

Really there's a large portion of Ukraine who can't do anything to help with the war other than just keep the ordinary course of life going, and strenghening ties with the EU is one of the things they've decided is part of that.

I am less of "they should stop doing that and do something more useful." and more of "they should stop pretending that this status is a big deal."

As you correctly said, the best thing most people can do during a war is to do their pre-war job really well.

I especially like how the Ukrainian show business went into the war mode from day 1. Many of them lost their main source of profit (Russian-speaking market) by doing so
 
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Speaking about show business, one of the most popular Russian bands, Little Big, released an anti-war music video and left Russia. It has a generic anti-war and anti-propaganda message with nothing pointing directly at Russia but, judging by the feast in youtube comments, they are now firmly in the Enemy of the People list.