Discussion about EU application: Von der Leyen meets Selenskyi in Kyiv

Russia’s war of aggression has brought Ukraine closer to the EU. But is it enough for a status as a candidate for accession? EU Commission President von der Leyen wants to clarify final questions with President Zelenskyj in Kyiv.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has arrived in Kyiv to hold talks on Ukraine’s EU membership application. During the unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital, she wants to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal. Among other things, she wanted to discuss open points in the application for admission with them, explained von der Leyen. In addition, it should be about long-term help from the EU in repairing war damage.

“We will take stock of the joint efforts needed for reconstruction and of Ukraine’s progress on its European path,” she said. “This will feed into our assessment, which we will present shortly.”

Assessment expected soon

The European Commission is expected to publish its assessment next Friday on whether Ukraine should be granted candidate status for EU membership. Linked to such a recommendation would probably be reform commitments in areas such as the rule of law or the fight against corruption. The decision on whether Ukraine will be granted candidate status lies with the EU states and must be taken unanimously. The EU summit on June 23rd and 24th is supposed to deal with it.

However, the views of the countries sometimes differ widely, although the decision on candidate status does not anticipate the decision on admission and is not linked to a time frame. The EU states had commissioned the EU Commission to deal with it and to make a recommendation.

Ukraine has great expectations

In March, shortly after the Russian war of aggression began on February 24, Ukraine submitted an application for acceptance into the EU. Ukraine’s expectations of rapprochement with the EU are very high. The President of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefantschuk, recently made it clear in the European Parliament that the morale of the Ukrainian people is also at stake: “We need this incentive, we need this accession candidate status. The Ukrainian people need to hear that from Europe,” he said.

President Zelenskyy keeps pushing and recently said that the EU could take a historic step and prove that words about the Ukrainian people’s belonging to the European family are not just empty words.

consider the interests of all countries

It is a challenge for the EU Commission to take the interests of all countries into account when making its recommendation. States such as Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Italy and Ireland, are strongly in favor of making Ukraine a candidate for the EU as quickly as possible. This is “an important political message that we have to send as soon as possible,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda after talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “We have no moral right to miss this moment. Ukraine is defending this right with its blood.”

There has recently been little open rejection of such a path, but some states are at least skeptical. These include France and the Netherlands. Scholz has not yet taken a clear position, but stressed that he would not accept any special rules for Ukraine’s accelerated EU accession. He also pointed out that this was not fair to the six countries in the Western Balkans, which are also hoping to join.

Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania are already EU accession candidates. Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina are still waiting for this status. The rapprochement has been stagnating for years, Scholz wants to create a new dynamic.

“Ukraine belongs to European family”

Von der Leyen’s trip to Kyiv is her second since the beginning of the war. For security reasons, it was not announced publicly in advance. In April, von der Leyen visited the Kiev suburb of Butscha, where war crimes had recently become public. At that time, she presented Selensky with the list of questions that her authority uses to assess Ukraine’s EU ambitions. “We stand by your side when you dream of Europe,” she said at the time. Their message is that “Ukraine belongs to the European family”.