Podcast “Ukraine – the situation”
Mölling expects tough conflicts in the EU over Ukraine’s accession
How well do President Zelenskyj and Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki still get along when it comes to Ukraine’s accession to the EU?
© Michal Dyjuk/AP/DPA
How is the European Union dealing with Ukraine’s possible accession? Security expert Christian Mölling expects conflicts in the coming months and years.
Security expert Christian Mölling expects conflicts within the European Union over the coming months and years over how to deal with the Ukraine. Mölling said on Friday star-Podcast “Ukraine – the situation”, “we will have extremely tough negotiations when it comes to Ukraine’s accession”. This refers not only to the military support and security of the country, but especially to the distribution of the many billions of euros from the EU’s structural funds. This money is very important for Poland. In addition, there is “a big question mark behind the rule of law” in Poland. According to the research director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, this will also be discussed more strongly when it comes to what requirements Ukraine has to meet for membership. “The idea of solidarity does not mean that all differences are papered over,” he emphasized, referring to this week’s debates about the future of Polish military support for Ukraine.
Poland and Ukraine in competition for EU funds
“There is an area where Poland is very unwilling to compromise,” said Mölling. On the other hand, he admitted that the actions of Ukraine, which has sued Poland and others in the dispute over grain deliveries at the World Trade Organization, were “probably not the smartest thing to do diplomatically.” He credited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with using “very clear language” at the United Nations. Zelensky had complained in New York, among other things, that some countries were only feigning solidarity with Ukraine – which the Poles rejected indignantly. “It shows that the basic tension is extremely high among everyone involved,” commented Mölling. It was “a very rough and eventful week for Zelenskyj”.
Future US aid unclear
Zelensky traveled from New York to Washington, where he met with US President Joe Biden and representatives of Congress, which must approve spending to support the Ukrainian armed forces. Zelenskyj appeared much more reserved than at the UN. “He anticipates that the situation will gradually become more difficult for Biden,” said Mölling about the prospects of pushing through further aid packages in the beginning election campaign for the US presidency. The Ukrainian president did not want to give his critics in the USA a template to rail against US aid.
The fact that Biden would continue to reject the delivery of the ATACMS missiles urgently desired by the Ukrainians had already been signaled before the visit. For Mölling, however, this does not mean that Germany should forego providing the comparable Taurus cruise missiles. “Factually, nothing has changed in the arguments for delivering Taurus,” he said. The connection between the delivery of US missiles and German weapons was “intentional for domestic politics and not born out of the matter.”