Ukraine starts EU membership talks in midst of war | DW News

Ukraine starts EU membership talks in midst of war | DW News

Ukraine’s President Vladimir zalinski has hailed the start of talks on his country’s accession to the European union he says Europe cannot be complete without Ukraine as a member ke will not be able to join the block until after the war with Russia is over and the talks are expected to last many years applying for EU membership one of the first moves Ukraine made after Russia launched its full-scale Invasion back in February 2022 a move that the country sees as a path to better living conditions and more security the EU agreed to start the process but made it clear Ukraine would need to make some changes before taking the next steps any country joining the EU has to meet its high standards including on rule of law human rights and a competitive market economy since then Ukraine has been busy with its EU homework pushing forward reforms to curb corruption and decrease oligarchs influence all while fighting off Russian aggression that’s earned the country praise from the eu’s executive you have made great strikes much greater than anyone expected from a country at War you are undergoing deep reforms while fighting a fullscale war and the goal is truly Within Reach now now that the EU has approved Ukraine’s reforms accession talks can begin but they’ll be heavy on technical detail negotiations will mean going through every chapter of the EU rule book all 35 of them and making sure that Ukraine’s laws align that includes over policy areas such as energy Taxation and Justice the 27 current EU members will have many more opportunities to to approve or block Ukraine’s progress and joining this club could take years or even decades all that means Ukraine’s Journey To You membership could still be a long one sir Michael Lee is a former Chief negotiator for EU enlargement at the European commission now he’s academic director at the Johns Hopkins University’s school of advanced International Studies welcome to the show it’s a pleasure to have you on and we heard it there a long road ahead for Ukraine what time frame do you envision for ke’s accession to the EU you know the EU always says nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and the EU is extremely reluctant to set a date as a target for myself I think that a decade is the minimum this process could take and it may well be longer can Ukraine become a member even if the Russian war of aggression has hasn’t ended it’s very hard to envisage a country in a state of War becoming a member of the European Union you know the European Union is very often said to be a peace project and I really don’t see a country actively involved in an ongoing War becoming an EU member but don’t time and circumstances demand quick results here in a way because depending on how the war goes the Canada country May Sease to exist in the future couldn’t that precisely be a reason for the annexation process to to be sped up look there’s a contradiction here because the EU is ready to open these negotiations for geopolitical reasons it wants to express solidarity and support for Ukraine and to send a clear message to Putin that we don’t accept any notion of a Russian sphere of influence in including Ukraine that said the EU is a community of Law and any country joining the EU must be in a position to implement the laws of the European Union and frankly all the existing candidates including Ukraine are still far away from that so the same strict criteria should be applied to Ukraine as to all the other candidates there’s no Quick Fix and I think all the EU spokespeople have been clear about that do you expect certain EU members to slow down the process Hungary for example is taking over the EU Council presidency in July and the government in Budapest doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of Ukraine’s accession that’s right Hungary is in favor of enlargement with like-minded countries run by illiberal Elites countries like Serbia for example but Hungary is leaning towards Moscow and obviously Moscow is not favorable to Ukraine joining the European Union and therefore we can expect Hungary to drag its heels and probably to put obstacles in the way of any detailed negotiations over the next six months now as the former Chief negotiator for precisely these kinds of processes how would you win over reluctant EU member like Hungary you know the EU moves forward mainly through package deals in which there’s something for everybody with 27 member states there really has to be a consensus that every country can recognize as being in its interests and I expect this to be the case as we go forward with the enlargement process as well Hungary ALS also expects various benefits from the European Union and moving forward there’ll be plenty of scope for negotiation now besides the war that is being fought on Ukrainian territory where do you see the the major Stepping Stones on Ukraine’s way to the EU I really must underline that we’re not talking here only about Ukraine today the decision was made and actually we have opened negotiations with Ukraine and mova and there are ongoing NE negotiations with countries in the Balkans like Serbia and Montenegro so this is a wider and we have further candidates for membership in in the western Balkans for example so this is a wider process than Ukraine alone the EU has decided to begin negotiations by looking at issues related to the rule of law to be sure that the partner country really is is committed to democracy the rule of law the protection of Human Rights an independent judicial system for example before going any further with more detailed technical talks so the talks will begin with fundamental issues such as these that was Sir Michael Lee former Chief negotiator for EU enlargement thank you so much for your time and all those insights thank you

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed the start of talks on his country accession to the European Union. He says Europe cannot be complete without Ukraine as a member. Kyiv will not be able to join the bloc until after the war with Russia is over – and the talks are expected to last for many years.

For more on this, we talk to Sir Michael Leigh. He is a former chief negotiator for EU enlargement at the European Commission. Now he’s Academic Director at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of advanced international studies.

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