Ukraine wants EU candidate status: Draft summit declaration leaks out
Created: 06/22/2022Updated: 06/22/2022, 20:07
By: Richard Strobl
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (l) speaks at a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
© Michael Fischer/dpa
Ukraine hopes for EU candidate status.
A draft statement was leaked ahead of the EU summit.
The negotiations in the news ticker.
Ukraine hopes for EU candidate status.
On Thursday, the 27 member states could give their “yes” to this.
The previously leaked draft of the EU summit shows that Ukraine has legitimate hopes.
Brussels - In the shadow of the escalating Ukraine conflict, the EU is about to make a potentially historic decision: at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, the 27 member states will decide on Ukraine's possible EU candidate status.
The country of President Volodymyr Zelenskyj can have legitimate hopes in view of a leaked draft of the summit declaration.
Ukraine hopes for EU candidate status - draft suggests "yes".
The draft of the summit declaration already anticipates the positive vote following the consultations of the past few days: "The European Council has decided to grant Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova the status of candidate countries," says the text, which is available to the AFP news agency.
A time frame for the lengthy accession process is not mentioned in the draft of the summit declaration.
It only says that the member states would decide on "further steps as soon as all conditions are met".
The much-vaunted turning point is now also reflected in the candidate question: never before has the peace community EU given a country at war the prospect of accession, and at record speed.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy only applied for his country's admission at the end of February, four days after the Russian attack.
Scholz had already made a commitment last week: "Germany is in favor of a positive decision in favor of Ukraine," he said during his joint trip to Kyiv with Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi.
Skeptics like the Netherlands or Denmark then joined.
Scholz confirmed on Wednesday (June 22) in his government statement in the Bundestag that he would work towards this.
The Chancellor emphasized that this was "Europe's answer to the turning point" triggered by the Russian war of aggression.
Ukraine wants EU candidate status: corruption, rule of law and other hurdles
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Ukraine and Moldova to undertake extensive reforms on Friday.
They have an enormous program to tackle before the EU can decide whether to start the actual accession negotiations.
Whether it's the rule of law, democracy or the fight against corruption - the hurdles are high and the process is likely to take years.
"Nobody knows whether Ukraine will ever join," says an experienced EU diplomat.
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In addition, Scholz and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer want to send a clear signal to the Western Balkan countries that their desire to join the country will not be ignored in the wake of the Ukraine war.
A summit meeting with Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina is scheduled before the actual EU summit.
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Some Balkan states are frustrated by the lack of progress: Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania briefly threatened to boycott the Brussels summit, but now they want to come anyway.
The summit is overshadowed by the tensions surrounding Kaliningrad: Russia is threatening EU and NATO member Lithuania with massive consequences because it has stopped the rail transport of certain goods, such as metals, to the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.
However, this has been agreed with Brussels as part of the EU sanctions against Russia.
