2023-12-11 13:08:23
The President of the Austrian Pan-European Movement, Karl Habsburg, has called on the European Union to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and the EU integration of the Western Balkans. The EU summit on Thursday and Friday will focus on the “core question (…) of whether the EU wants to act as an independent geopolitical actor or whether we will continue to be content with well-sounding but empty slogans,” said the Pan-European movement on Monday with a broadcast.
“Whoever seriously examines the security policy situation in Europe will come to the conclusion that starting accession negotiations with Ukraine is in the interest of both sides,” emphasized Habsburg. “We all know that negotiations are not yet accession and that Ukraine also has a number of reform steps ahead of it in order to be able to join,” added the grandson of the last Austrian emperor and Hungarian king.
The start of accession talks is “a motivation” for Ukraine to take further reform steps and its fight for freedom. “And it is a signal to Putin’s criminal regime that Europe will not allow itself to be intimidated by war crimes,” emphasized Habsburg. This is also a security gain for the EU. “The further we push the boundaries of freedom eastwards, the safer the middle becomes,” he quoted a slogan from his father and former CSU MEP Otto Habsburg.
Karl Habsburg also opposed attempts to play off the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine against the necessary integration of the six Western Balkan countries into the EU. “Anyone who acts like this is at best trying to cover up their own failures on the path to the EU integration of the Western Balkan countries, which were already promised to join at the Thessaloniki summit 20 years ago,” he criticized.
Paneuropa Austria is also committed to “even stronger military support” for Ukraine. “Any hesitation in the delivery of modern combat technology with which Ukraine can develop technological superiority on the battlefield costs human lives. Both in Ukraine and in Russia,” said Habsburg. “No European head of government can have any interest in having Russian troops on the borders of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary or Romania.”
1702300952
#Karl #Habsburg #calls #hold #accession #talks #Kiev