The Greens oppose Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) on the question of Ukraine’s accession to the EU. “Our goal must be for Ukraine to become a full member,” Greens foreign policy spokeswoman Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic said in a broadcast on Monday. Over the weekend, Schallenberg expressed skepticism about full EU membership for Ukraine. Ernst-Dziedzic emphasized that the ball is currently with the EU Commission in this regard.
The chancellor’s statement caused a great response in Russia and Ukraine, where there was even an official reaction from the Foreign Ministry spokesman. “We consider these statements to be strategically short-sighted and do not correspond to the interests of a united Europe,” said Oleh Nikolenko.
Also in the environment of EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn, Schallenberg’s statements likely caused a lack of understanding. “I don’t know what’s been going on with Schalli lately, very unfortunate statements, also about neutrality…”, he said on Sunday in a tweet distributed by Hahn’s account using the “lost” emoji. When asked by the ORF, it was said that an employee of Hahn had sent the tweet, which has since been deleted.
On the other hand, the FPÖ urged Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) to veto a vote on Ukraine’s candidate status. Nehammer is expected to issue a corresponding “declaration of guarantee”, FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl wrote in a broadcast on Monday. “The federal government must not, under any circumstances, jump on the train of European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and quickly approve Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” Kickl said. He warned that such a move would be “completely negligent” and would “jeopardize Austria’s security enormously” because it would import Ukraine’s war into the EU.
In his statement on Monday, Ernst-Dziedzic also hailed the electoral victories of French President Emmanuel Macron and the young liberal-green liberation movement (Gibanje Svoboda) in Slovenia. “These pro-European election results are positive and encouraging signs and underline the resilience of democratic values in difficult times”, commented the green politician. It is gratifying that the electoral decisions in France and Slovenia have “strengthened the pro-European capacity to make decisions, especially on international and geostrategic issues”.