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The Benelux countries believe Moldova and Ukraine share a common future within the European Union, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel has said.
Source: Bettel at a press conference on Tuesday 26 August, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Bettel is currently in Odesa, a city in Ukraine’s south, with Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot and Heleen Bakker, Director-General for European Cooperation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
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At the press conference, Bettel noted that he had arrived in Odesa from Moldova, where, in his words, “there is no will to say there is a future for one country without the other country”.
“We believe, and also after discussions that we had, that it’s a common future for both countries and not to use one country against the other country like Russia would love to do it,” he said, referring to Ukraine’s EU accession.
Background:
The actual launch of Ukraine’s accession negotiations is known to have been blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been exploiting the issue for domestic political purposes.
Hungarian authorities organised a manipulative public survey on whether citizens supported Ukraine’s accession to the EU, later claiming that 95% voted against it.
Hungary’s veto has sparked concerns over a possible “decoupling” of Ukraine and Moldova on their paths to EU membership to avoid harming Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s position ahead of this autumn’s parliamentary elections. The EU believes Orbán’s veto could now be tackled under Denmark’s rotating EU Council presidency, keeping the “decoupling” scenario at bay for the time being.
Recently, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský also declared that his country opposes splitting Ukraine and Moldova on their path to the EU.
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