German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday she was convinced that the European Union This would advance Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc next month.
EU leaders will meet for a summit on December 14-15, during which a decision is expected to be made on whether to grant Ukraine the official start of accession negotiations.
What the German Foreign Minister said about Ukraine
“We want to see Ukraine become a member of our European Union,” Baerbock said at a conference on EU expansion in Berlin.
“The European Union must be enlarged. This is the geopolitical consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine“.
“I am convinced that the European Council in December will send this signal,” said Baerbock, of the Green party, which is part of Germany’s ruling coalition government.
Baerbock praised the relatively united response of EU member states to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “great foreign policy achievement.”
The minister also said that Russia must not be allowed to “dig an imperial trench… which would isolate from us not only Ukraine but also Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkans.”
And the foreign minister told a conference in Berlin that the 27-nation bloc must pursue “tedious” internal reforms that would allow it to operate with more than 30 members.
She said gradual enlargement should be accompanied by reforms to limit the growth of central EU institutions such as the European Commission and reduce the use of national vetoes.
What kyiv said about the progress of Ukraine’s EU candidacy
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the same conference that Kiev was confident about opening EU accession negotiations this year, highlighting the reforms implemented by Kiev even in the part of its efforts to fight the Russian invasion.
Candidate countries like Ukraine must fulfill numerous legal, economic and political conditions in membership negotiations that last for many years. Ukraine’s case is further complicated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February last year.
However, Kuleba said Ukraine was on the right track to fulfill its obligations to open accession negotiations.
“We are optimistic. We have made a lot of reforms and we have adopted the necessary laws to comply with the recommendations,” he said.
“We therefore look forward to the presentation of this report and I have reason to believe that it will pave the way for the European Council’s decision on the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine.”
EU member states are unsure whether they should complete their own reforms before allowing more members to join, or whether they should expand first and then work on the changes .
Kuleba warned against letting the need for reforms slow down the enlargement process.
“EU reform must not take the enlargement process hostage and we must find the right balance between the European Union reform process and continued enlargement,” he said .
Which countries are applying for EU membership?
Ukraine applied for EU membership days after the Russian invasion and received candidacy status several months later. alongside Moldova in a strong signal of support from Brussels.
Six Western Balkan countries – Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia – are also candidates for membership. The same goes for Turkey, even though its accession negotiations have stalled.
There are also two potential candidates, Kosovo and Georgia.
rc/rt (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)