Ukraine wants to join EU within two years, PM says

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal has a tight two-year timetable for securing EU membership that is bound to dominate discussions at this week’s historic EU-Ukraine summit, the first to be held on Ukrainian soil. Is.

Problem? Nobody within the EU thinks this is realistic.

When EU commissioners travel to Kyiv later this week ahead of Friday’s summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the heads of the European Commission and Council, their main task is likely to involve managing expectations.

Shyamal is setting himself a tough deadline. “We have very ambitious plans to join the European Union within the next two years,” he told Politico. “So we expect that this year, in 2023, we can already be in this pre-entry phase of negotiations,” he said.

It is a challenge to the EU establishment, which is trying to keep Ukrainian membership as a far more remote concept.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last year it could be “decades” before Ukraine joins it. Even EU leaders, who supported candidate status for Ukraine at their summit last June, privately acknowledge that the country’s chances of actually joining are some years away (and This may be one of the reasons he supported the idea in the first place.) After all, candidate countries like Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro have been waiting for many years since 1999 in Ankara’s case.

Ukraine is an enigma for the European Union. Many argue that Brussels has a special responsibility towards Kyiv. Finally, it was Ukrainian anger at President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to pull out of a political and economic union agreement with the European Union at Russia’s behest that sparked the 2014 Maidan uprising and set the stage for war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: Ukraine is “the only country where people were shot because they wrapped themselves in the European flag.”

Ukraine’s closest allies in the European Union, such as Poland and the Baltic countries, strongly support Kyiv’s membership, seeing it as a democracy resisting an invader. Many of the EU’s old guard are far more wary, however, as Ukraine – a global agricultural superpower – could reduce its powers and perks. Ukraine and Poland – with a combined population of 80 million – could team up to rival Germany as a political force in the European Council and some argue Kyiv would be an excessive drain on the EU budget.

short term deliverables

Friday’s summit in Kyiv – the first EU meeting of its kind to be held in an active war zone – will be about striking the right balance.

Although EU national leaders will not be in attendance, European Council officials have been busy liaising with EU member states regarding a final communiqué.

Some countries are insisting that the statement should not go away from the language used june european council – Emphasizing that Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union, aspirant countries need to meet specific criteria. “Expectations are quite high in Kyiv, but all conditions set by the Commission need to be met. It is a merit-based process,” said a senior EU official.

Still, there is hope for progress when Zelensky meets with von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.

Shmyhal told POLITICO that he hoped Ukraine could achieve a “substantial leap forward” on Friday, especially in specific sectors – an agreement on a visa-free regime for industrial goods; suspension of customs duties on Ukrainian exports for another year; and “active progress” on joining the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) payment scheme and Ukraine’s inclusion in the EU mobile roaming area.

“We look forward to progressing and expediting the signing of these agreements,” he said.

anti corruption campaign

The hot topic – and one of the central question marks over Ukraine’s entry into the European Union – will be Ukraine’s fight against corruption. The deputy infrastructure minister was fired this month and the deputy foreign minister quit over scandals related to war profiteering in public contracts.

“We need reform in Ukraine,” said a senior EU official centrally involved in preparations for the summit. “We cannot have the same Ukraine as before the war.”

Shmyhal insisted that the Zelensky government was taking corruption seriously. “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption,” he said, referring to the “lightning speed” with which officials were removed this month. “Unfortunately, corruption was not born yesterday, but we are certain that we will root out corruption,” he said openly, adding that it is the key to the country’s EU accession path.

He also said that the government is ready to revise its recent law on the country’s constitutional court To meet the demands of both the European Commission and the Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe. Shimhal said that could change as early as this week ahead of the summit.

Although Ukraine has announced reforms to the Constitutional Court, particularly how judges are appointed, the Venice Commission has still concerns Regarding the powers and composition of the Advisory Group of Experts, the body that selects candidates for the court. The aim is to avoid political interference.

Shyamal said that these questions will be answered. “We are in discussions with the European Commission to see that all of the findings issued can be included in the text,” he told POLITICO.

Nonetheless, the symbolic power of this week’s summit is expected to send a strong message to Moscow about Ukraine’s European aspirations.

European Council President Michel used his surprise visit to Kyiv this month to reassure Ukraine that EU membership would be a reality for Ukraine, telling the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) that he dreams that one day a Ukrainian will take over as President of the European Council. ,

“Ukraine is the European Union and the European Union is Ukraine,” he said. We should leave no stone unturned to convert this promise into reality at the earliest.

The key question for the people of Ukraine after Friday’s meeting will be how quickly rhetoric and promises can become reality.