EU-UKRAINE SUMMIT - MAIN RESULTS
Charles Michel, Volodomyr Zelenski, Ursula von der Leyen
EUROPE –
POLITICAL NEWS IN BRIEF
EU – UKRAINE Summit
last week: Main Results
Ukraine is the EU. EU is Ukraine. Let’s make it
happen ! This
was the words of Charles Michel at the end of the EU-Ukraine Summit last week.
EU and Ukraine had just finished its 24th summit. It takes place once a year in Kyiv or in Brussels. This year it was in Kyiv. The participants are the president of the EU Council of Ministers, Charles Michel, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelinski. The purpose of the summit is to discuss what happened during the past year in their cooperation, what the plans are for the following year, to discuss what is happening in the EU and in Ukraine and also to agree on a number of international issues.
The EU has so far supported Ukraine with 51
billion € - for military aid, generators, transformers, supporting schools,
hospitals and critical infrastructure. It has also provided 18 billion € in 2023 in
macro-financial assistance. It also provides humanitarian and civil protection
assistance.
We are also training 30.000 Ukrainian soldiers in
our countries.
The EU has also received about 4,2 million
Ukrainian refugees. In addition 3,1 million have returned to Ukraine. And
internally in Ukraine about 7 million people are displaced from their homes.
All of this is part of the close cooperation –
and will be so also in the years to come.
As the EU leaders said at the summit: The European Union will support you in
every way we can, for as long as it takes. Because Ukraine and EU we are
family. The future of Ukraine is within the European Union. Ukrainian people
have made a clear choice for freedom, democracy and rule of law!
Ukraine is doing a lot of decisive progress to
join the Western democracies. One of its problems is that it still has quite a
lot of bad inheritance from the Soviet Union, which it was a part of. But it has for years made clear improvement
to get rid of it. Russia on its side has in no way done the same. On the
contrary. Therefore, Ukraine and its development is seen from the leaders in
Russia as a clear threat. When will the Russian public ask for the same
?! This is part of the explanation
behind Putin’s aggressive and un-provoked attack on Ukraine. It is also part of
a century-long Russian imperialistic attitude towards its neighbours. This
is why the EU and the west is so determined to ensure that Ukraine will be the
winning part – and join the EU later on.
EU candidate country:
Ukraine applied in February 2022 for full
membership of the EU. In a way it was a continuation of the mutual Free Trade
Agreement coming into force in 2017. About 63 % of its provisions were
implemented. This includes more trade,
the fight against corruption, public administration reform, research cooperation,
etc.
After in depth discussions the EU summit decided to
give candidate membership in June 2022.
The status as a candidate country of the EU means
that the EU expect you to become a full member, when the conditions are
fulfilled. Member states have to fulfil a number of very important political,
economic and social standards. The candidate has to agree to and follow all
part of the EU treaties and of the EU legislation. This happens in a clear step by step
procedure.
The EU has put forward 7 clear conditions for
Ukraine:
· Reform
of the Constitutional Court
· Continuation
of the judicial reform
· Anti-corruption
measures implemented
· Anti-money
laundering put in place
· Implementation
of the anti-oligarchnic law
· Harmonisation
of audio-visual legislation with Europe
· Change
of legislation on national minorities
Ukraine has said that they implemented it all before
the end of 2022. The Commission will make a first evaluation in April and a
second final one in October.
It is then the Council of Ministers / EU Summit
which will decide if and when membership negotiations can start.
In parallel the EU is putting special investments
at disposal. For Ukraine this includes a package of about 850 projects in
energy, the Green Deal, and digitalisation.
This is all a continuous process, which takes
time. But the EU has made it clear that it will speed it up as much as
possible. It is the clear interest of all parties, that this crucial preparation
is done efficiently and properly.
In order to coordinate all this the EU has a big
Delegation ( embassy ) in Kyiv, and Ukraine has a similar Mission in Brussels. And the Commission has a special department
coordinating all the activities.
The EU Delegation in Kyiv has a special website
in Ukrainian and in English about the activities – called MOVING FORWARD
TOGETHER:
Niels Jørgen Thøgersen
February 7, 2023
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