DrThe European Union decided, against Hungary’s wishes, to begin EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. In addition, Georgia will obtain candidate status for EU membership, EU Council President Charles Michel announced in Brussels on Thursday evening.
“This is a historic moment,” Michel said. “It shows the credibility of the European Union, the strength of the European Union.” Member states also want to begin accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the country meets the conditions for doing so. The European Commission is scheduled to submit a report on this matter in March. Michel spoke of a „clear signal of hope” for the residents of these countries and for the European continent.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban distanced himself from the EU summit agreement. In a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, he spoke of “a completely foolish, irrational and wrong decision.” He abstained from voting.
The decision to start accession talks must be taken unanimously by all 27 EU members. At the beginning of the summit, Hungary was the only country to speak out against it. According to information from EU circles, this was eventually circumvented through a “pragmatic solution”: Orbán left the meeting room to make the decision; It was agreed with him on that.
Al-Hungarian said: “26 other countries insisted on making this decision.” “So, Hungary decided that if 26 other countries did it, it had to go its own way.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Orban did not agree with the decision. But he decided not to use his veto. “We have now reached this agreement and Hungary has decided not to block it.”
Rutte: “It will take many years before accession takes place.”
However, supporters of the positive decision pointed out at the summit that the start of negotiations to join the European Union should be primarily a symbolic step. “It will take many years before accession takes place anyway,” outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at the start of the summit. This is about enabling the next step for a country that has been working very hard to implement reforms during a war that it is also waging on behalf of the European Union.
Chancellor Olaf Schulz (Social Democratic Party) considered the decision to begin accession negotiations with Ukraine a „strong sign of support” for the country attacked by Russia. He also welcomed the decision to start accession talks with Moldova at the same time. “One thing is clear: these countries belong to the European family.”
Ukraine and its small neighbor Moldova have been waiting a long time for a decision on starting accession negotiations. The European Commission had recommended the move in principle in November, but the European Council still had to approve.
At the time, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made it clear that the Commission had made a positive recommendation to Ukraine even though the conditions had not yet been met, saying that the pending reforms had already begun. “The progress we are seeing in Ukraine is impressive,” she stressed at the time. It is firmly convinced that this would strengthen Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression. On Thursday evening, von der Leyen praised the “strategic decision.” By doing so, member states made history, she explained.
The European Union had already included Bosnia and Herzegovina among the candidate countries at the end of last year. This was also due to concern that the Balkan country with a population of about 3.2 million people could turn towards Russia or China. The EU had already promised the country possible accession in 2003, and formally submitted its application for membership in 2016. However, in 2019, it was decided that it would only gain candidate status if 14 conditions for reform were met. The EU Commission recently confirmed that this remains crucial for the start of actual accession negotiations.
A new sanctions package against Russia
European Union countries also agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia. This was confirmed by the spokeswoman for European Council President Charles Michel this evening on the sidelines of the European Union summit in Brussels. This includes, among other things, restrictions on the import of diamonds.
The European Commission had proposed „imposing a ban on the direct or indirect import, purchase or transfer of diamonds from Russia.” This targets rough diamonds as well as jewelry. In the European Union, this particularly affects Belgium with its traditional diamond trading center in Antwerp. The Belgian government has long resisted the ban.
In addition, the sanctions package contains measures aimed at enabling better enforcement of the Russian oil export price cap. A ban on imports of other goods with which Russia fills its war coffers is also planned. These include gases, which are also known as camping gas in Germany (liquefied petroleum gas, LPG).
In addition, other responsible parties, organizations or companies should be included in the sanctions list. You face an entry ban and possible asset freezes in the EU. According to the European Union Commission, these include other members of the Russian Armed Forces as well as those responsible for the IT sector.
