Such a scenario during an online discussion at the Kiev Security Forum on June 10 allowed Senior Analyst at the Center for Security “European Values” in Prague (Czech Republic) David Stulik.
“Why is it difficult for European countries to make decisions? There are several reasons. The first such reason is that even friends of Ukraine, like some Scandinavian countries, say that Ukraine must first show progress on key issues and reforms, such as the fight against corruption, judicial reform , the rule of law. And these are countries that fully support Ukraine (Denmark, Sweden),” he said.
David Stulik noted that these countries “have a certain mistrust that if the EU granted the status of a candidate for membership, Ukraine could relax and stop the reform process.”
“Another group of countries… these are two countries from the former Yugoslavia. These ambassadors came up to us and said: can you give us arguments that would support granting candidature status to Ukraine, because our countries have a clear priority – this is the membership of the countries of the Western Balkans, our neighbors , in the European Union,” Stulik said.
The danger may also come from Hungary, “which in Central Europe no one actually has confidence in, what they are doing, what interests they are defending,” the analyst said.
“Even if Hungarian diplomacy, Hungarian representatives say they support the granting of candidate status, we cannot fully trust them, because we do not know what we agreed on [премьер Венгрии Виктор] Orban i [президент РФ Владимир] Putin,” Stulik stressed. – And here, too, we need to approach countries such as Hungary, maybe even Austria to some extent, with a certain degree of caution. Because here in Europe there is such a practice that often large countries that do not support certain decisions can hide behind others.”
According to the analyst, the final decision will be made at the European Council itself.
“And then there may be a surprise that certain countries can say that they have certain comments … and can block this decision by putting forward their own postulates,” Stulik concluded.
February 28, four days after the start full scale Russian invasionUkraine applied for entry into the European Union. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that under the current conditions he is counting on joining the bloc by special procedure.
The European Parliament supported granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership. Then an informal summit of EU leaders took place, where a decision was made, which, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, indicates that Ukraine will be a member of the EU.
The questionnaire necessary to determine the readiness of a state that has applied for EU membership to start accession negotiations was handed over to Zelensky by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during her visit to Kyiv on April 8. Ukraine in 10 days sent the answers to the first part questionnaire. On May 9, Zelensky announced that Ukraine prepared the second part. The meeting of the European Council, which will decide on the status of Ukraine, will take place in June.
Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna said on June 9 that the three countries of the European Union oppose granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership. At the same time, she did not specify which states in question.
The media wrote that France, the Netherlands and Austria are opponents of granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership in June. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on 10 June that Austria will support providing Ukraine Candidate status for EU membership, if received by the countries of the Western Balkans and Moldova.
Bloomberg reported on June 9 that Denmark and the Netherlands oppose granting Ukraine candidate status, for – most EU countries, including Italy. Germany, according to the agency, said that the result of the summit of EU leaders in June could be a conditional candidate status for Ukraine.
The Danish Foreign Minister noted on June 10 that his country fully supports the European aspirations of Ukrainebut waiting conclusions of the European Commission.
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