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EU candidate status: Broad support for Ukraine emerges

2022-06-21T11:53:40.512Z


Ukraine wants to become a member of the EU. Now the governments of the member states decide on the granting of candidate status. Senior officials are confident.


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Luxembourg Foreign Minister Asselborn: show great unanimity

Photo: JOHANNA GERON / REUTERS

The EU Commission supports the step, now the member countries have to decide at their summit at the end of the week: Should Ukraine and Moldova get the status of EU accession candidates?

At the moment it seems that all previous members of the alliance of states have said yes.

There is currently not a single country causing problems, said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Luxembourg.

There will be great unanimity.

The French Secretary of State for Europe, Clement Beaune, as the current Chairman of the EU Council of Ministers for Europe, also expressed his confidence.

"I think a consensus is forming," he said.

He is optimistic but also cautious because unanimity is required at the summits of heads of state and government.

(Read more about the topic here.)

For example, it is still unclear whether EU states such as Austria, Slovenia and Croatia will link their approval of the EU accession candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova to progress in efforts to expand the EU to include the Western Balkans.

Specifically, there are calls, among other things, for Bosnia-Herzegovina to be granted the status of an EU accession candidate.

The EU Commission recommended on Friday that Ukraine and Moldova should be officially designated as candidates for accession to the European Union.

The decision on candidate status must now be made by the governments of the 27 EU countries.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his colleagues are meeting in Brussels this Thursday to discuss the topic.

Germany is clearly in favor of candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova.

A clear signal must be sent that the countries belong in the EU, said Minister of State for Europe Anna Lührmann (Greens) in Luxembourg.

Even if the countries get candidate status, it will still be many years before they eventually become full EU members.

There are also voices that candidate status fuels unrealistic expectations of Ukraine and Moldova.

In addition, there are already accession candidates who have been waiting for progress for years.

It is feared that they could feel alienated if Ukraine and Moldova were treated differently or even preferentially.

asa/dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-21

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