(Luxembourg) The European Union officially launched accession negotiations with Ukraine on Tuesday in Luxembourg, a step described as “historic” both in Kyiv and Brussels.
Russia has sought by all means to obstruct this accession process, which promises to be long and difficult, leading this former Soviet republic to anchor itself in Europe.
“Historic moment” for the President of the European Council Charles Michel, “historic day” for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: there was no shortage of superlatives to greet the opening of these impatiently awaited negotiations in Kyiv, more than two years later the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In Ukraine, “90% of people support us, we will make the reforms” required, assured Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanichyna, during a speech to the ministers of the Twenty-Seven. She paused briefly, alerted by her cell phone: “We have an alert in Kyiv,” she said, reminiscent of coming from a country at war.
EU member states first formally opened negotiations with Ukraine, within the framework of an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). They will subsequently open another IGC with Moldova, another former Soviet republic candidate to join the EU.
The opening of these talks with Kyiv is the result of a hard-won agreement by 26 EU countries, which were forced to compete in ingenuity to convince the 27th, Viktor Orban’s Hungary, not to block the process.
The Hungarian Prime Minister fiercely opposed any accession discussions with Ukraine, judging that this country was not ready. The closest EU member state to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Hungary is also blocking all European military aid to Kyiv.
Mr Orban had finally agreed to leave the summit table of the leaders of the Twenty-Seven in December, while his 26 counterparts decided to open these accession negotiations with Kyiv and Chisinau.
These intergovernmental conferences now open, negotiators will first review the legislation in Ukraine and Moldova to check whether it is compatible with that of the EU.
This stage, “screening” in Brussels jargon, normally lasts one to two years, a diplomatic source explained.
But in the case of Ukraine or Moldova, things will go faster, because “we already have a fairly clear idea” of the situation, underlined this European diplomat, on condition of anonymity.
However, it will take several weeks, or even several months, before the various negotiation chapters are actually opened.
And it is unlikely that they will be before the end of this year: Hungary, reluctant to welcome Ukraine, takes on July 1 the biannual presidency of the Council of the EU, which brings together the ministers of the Twenty-Seven and organizes the work agenda.
“Ukraine will be a member of the European Union, and we will be able to complete everything before 2030,” promised the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister.
But Budapest has so far held back the formal opening of discussions with Kyiv, judging that the conditions were not met.
“If I stick to what I see here as we speak, they (the Ukrainians) are very far from meeting the accession criteria,” Hungarian Minister of European Affairs Janos Boka repeated on Tuesday in Luxembourg.
The European Commission, for its part, estimated on June 7 that Ukraine and Moldova had fulfilled all the prerequisites for such accession.
The EU had granted candidate status for membership to Ukraine in June 2022, in a highly symbolic gesture a few months after the start of the war triggered by Moscow, as well as to neighboring Moldova.
The opening of negotiations is only one step in a long and arduous accession process. A possible entry into the EU of Ukraine, a country of more than 40 million inhabitants and an agricultural power, poses numerous difficulties, starting with that of the financial aid from which it should benefit.
The EU, for its part, plans to reform itself to cope with this enlargement and improve its governance and the already often complex decision-making of 27 member states.
