The fact that the European Commission is in favor of granting Ukraine candidate status is essentially a geopolitical decision, not a judgment on the country's readiness for membership.
The Commission President didn't even bother to hide it on Friday.
Ukraine deserves the status of being willing to die for the European dream, said Ursula von der Leyen.
This is not one of the so-called Copenhagen criteria that a country has to meet in order to become a member of the EU.
But among the many changes Putin is forcing on the continent is a reassessment of enlargement.
It has never been as strategic as it is today.
Berlin and Paris without illusions
The heads of state and government will also have to bear this in mind when they have to decide on this question next week.
Scholz, Macron and Draghi have already made a public statement in Kyiv.
For Germany and France in particular, this was another farewell to the illusions of the past.
When the motto was not to irritate Moscow, Berlin and Paris would probably have delayed a Ukrainian application for EU membership just as they did with the country's admission to NATO.
The pressure is now so great that the more skeptical EU states will find it difficult to prevent candidate status.
After that, however, there should be no more political discount.
Ukraine must reform before it can become a member.
In war, that will probably not be possible at all.
This development is a setback for Putin's ambitions, which he promptly answered.
Anyone who believes in Father Frost may believe that such a large reduction in the gas flow, which is hitting Germany, France and Italy right now, has technical reasons.
Putin, too, is now resorting to means that hurt him himself.
The struggle for order in Europe will still demand a lot from everyone involved.