2023-11-08 12:07:00
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in kyiv (EFE/ Sergey Dolzhenko)
The European Commission, executive arm of the European Union (EU), recommended this Wednesday to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, announced the president of that institution, Ursula von der Leyen.
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”Today is a historic day,” Von der Leyen said at a news conference. The Commission also recommended opening such negotiations with Moldova and granted Georgia the status of a candidate country for accession.
Ukraine, Von der Leyen said, “continues to face enormous difficulties and tragedy caused by Russia’s war of aggression.”
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The Commission’s recommendations must be submitted to the vote of the leaders of the EU countries at a summit scheduled for December in Brussels.
Ukraine submitted its request to join the EU just five days after Russia’s offensive against its territory, in February 2022, and in June the country was officially recognized as a candidate to join the bloc.
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The accession process, however, takes several years of complex negotiations between the aspiring countries and the EU institutions in Brussels, a process that can take up to a decade.
Turkey began formal accession talks in 2005, and the situation remains deadlocked. Albania was recognized as a candidate country in 2003, and began formal talks in 2009, which have not yet been completed.
Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia are also waiting in line, with growing impatience.
In the case of Bosnia, a Commission document released this Wednesday recommended the start of formal accession negotiations only after that country moves forward with a reform plan.
“The Commission recommends that the Council begin accession negotiations with Ukraine,” states the European Executive’s report on the progress of the candidates, which confirms that Ukraine has completed four of the seven priority reforms set when it was granted candidate status. last year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gestures as she holds a news conference with European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman
In any case, Brussels points out that there are pending reforms on the Ukrainian side to formalize this step, which is why it conditions the starting signal for the talks with the adoption of the negotiating framework, on Kiev finalizing some measures it is working on.
In its opinion, the European Executive indicates that it will follow all areas related to the opening of negotiations and will report to the Council before March 2024, the date that is now the deadline to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. Now the ball is in the court of the Twenty-Seven, which will discuss whether they decide to open negotiations at the leaders’ summit in December.
At a press conference, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, defended European integration as a “vital policy” for the EU, ensuring that “completing” the Union is a “natural horizon” for the bloc and that The expansion responds to a “geopolitical logic.”
Regarding the deadline for opening formal negotiations with Ukraine, Von der Leyen explained that if the leaders of the Twenty-Seven make the “political decision” in December, the European Executive will “immediately” begin the preparatory work in order to launch the process once once Ukraine finishes the reforms underway. “By March we will report on progress,” he explained.
Specifically, Brussels identifies as pending issues increasing the fight against corruption, in addition to implementing laws to reduce the influence of oligarchs in the public, political and economic life of Ukraine and the need to finalize the legal framework for national minorities of according to the standards set by the Venice Commission.
Kiev requested its formal entry days after the Russian military aggression and already in June of last year, the EU recognized its candidate status along with Moldova, an intermediate step that represents support to progress in European reforms and to integrate it into some structures. European economies.
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