The member states of the European Union are now all in agreement. The Twenty-Seven must validate, Friday June 21, during a council of economy ministers, the framework for the accession negotiations of Ukraine and Moldova to the European Union (EU). The accession conferences with these two countries, which will officially launch the process, will be held officially on Tuesday June 25, according to the Belgian Presidency of the EU.
While the war continues to rage in Ukraine and Western military aid still arrives in dribs and drabs, this commitment is very important for its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been calling for a clear sign to the Twenty-Seven since January. In December 2023, the heads of state and government agreed to open these negotiations, after the timely exit from the council room of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who had long opposed this decision. kyiv still had to satisfy a series of conditions on the fight against corruption or the protection of minorities, which have since been met, according to the Commission.
This process opens very opportunely a few days before Hungary takes over the biannual presidency of the Council of the European Union, from 1is July. On Tuesday June 18, Janos Boka, the Hungarian Minister for European Affairs, indicated that it would not be possible to open negotiation chapters with Ukraine over the next six months. “Hungary was constructive on this issue, because it did not want to have to manage itnotes Engjellushe Morina, specialist on the subject at the European Council on International Relations, a research center. She wants to focus on the enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkan states. »
“No preferential treatment”
The absence of Hungarian support should not pose an immediate problem. After June 25, the European Commission will have to assess the alignment of all Ukrainian legislation with that of the Union – the Community acquis – which ranges from questions of the rule of law to the body of legislation on the single market, agriculture, energy, etc. Thirty-five chapters, covering all of these sectors, will be the subject of negotiations. To access the EU, kyiv will have to comply with each of them.
This first step can take up to a year, as was the case for Albania. “It is only after this phase that the Council will be called upon to take initial decisions to open negotiations on subsets of negotiating chapters”, recalls a European diplomat, well after the Hungarian presidency. Then, the Twenty-Seven will have to unanimously validate each step towards accession, at least seventy votes, all taken unanimously, i.e. as many opportunities for a Member State to veto.
You have 52.43% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
