Fifteen European Commissioners, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, travel to Ukraine on Thursday to discuss progress on EU accession face-to-face with the government of Volodymyr Zelensky, in a new sign of political support for Kiev and a clear message to the Kremlin that the bloc will not relent in its support.
«We have to be optimistic and at the same time realistic,» EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell told reporters ahead of the trip, stressing that accession must follow the process based on reforms that «no one can skip.»
Despite the fact that Brussels and the EU-27 have taken unprecedented steps to bring Ukraine closer to the EU, granting it candidate status in record time, the head of diplomacy has concluded that its entry into the bloc will not be «a thing of tomorrow». «Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will still be talking about a bloody war in Ukraine,» he noted.
Thus, the meeting between the European Commission and the Ukrainian government will serve to deepen the dialogue on the accession process and to review Kiev’s reform agenda for joining the bloc. The following day, an EU-Ukraine summit will be held in the presence of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
The EU countries accepted last June its candidacy to join the EU following the opinion of the European Commission which endorsed the step, assuming that the country, in the midst of a war with Russia, will undertake far-reaching economic, legal and political reforms.
In the Community capital they point out that the contact with the Ukrainian authorities is total and «not a day goes by» in which Brussels and Kiev do not discuss the progress in the accession to the Community club. However, European sources maintain the balance with regard to the idea of an ‘express’ entry into the bloc, after Ukraine has said that it has a plan to be able to enter the EU within two years.
«There is no doubt that Ukraine will be a member of the EU when it has fulfilled all the conditions,» said the source, who assures that the meeting will serve to support the reforms and recognize the progress, but insists on «not speculating» on the dates. In this sense, it is necessary to wait for spring, when a first report on the progress achieved by Ukraine in its European path will arrive.
In recent weeks, Brussels has praised the Ukrainian authorities’ fight against corruption following the creation of the new anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the appointment of a new head of the national anti-corruption body, in addition to the dismissal of more than a dozen governors, deputy ministers and even a presidential adviser following several bribery scandals.
In terms of announcements, official confirmation is expected that the EU will increase the capacity of its training mission for Ukrainian troops to train 30,000 military personnel, double the initial target, as well as an allocation of 25 million for demining programs on the ground and the formal adoption of the seventh batch of 500 million from the fund used by the EU to pay for the shipment of arms from the EU-27 to Ukraine.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
