“Team Europe” is moving to Kyiv for two days. In fact, tomorrow in the Ukrainian capital there will be a meeting of the College of Commissioners with the government (a kind of unprecedented joint Council of Ministers), mainly devoted to the issue of joining the European Union, while on Friday it will be the turn of the Michel von der Leyen-Zelensky Summitfocused more on war-related issues.
Knowing that tomorrow will be a crucial stage on his country’s path to the EU, the Ukrainian president wants to make a good impression: customs chiefs have been beheaded, searches have been carried out and the tax authority arrested in a new round of purges against the corrupt. An attack that hasn’t spared people like Igor Kolomoisky, the oligarch and former political ally of the Ukrainian president, whose home was raided as part of an investigation into alleged tariff evasion linked to the oil company Ukrnafta.
The granting of candidate country status, last summer, was accompanied by a series of demands (seven) that must be met before moving on to the next phase: the opening of negotiations proper. The reforms (that’s what we’re talking about) cover different chapters, such as the selection of judges for the Constitutional Court, the fight against corruption and the influence of oligarchs, the protection of minorities and a new media law. Instead, processes that can take decades here have to be approved in a hurry. In the draft summit conclusions, there is a passage that “acknowledges the significant progress” made by Ukraine towards this end and encourages the country to “continue on this path and fulfill the conditions set out in the Commission’s Opinion”. Which will release a report next October detailing the progress of the reforms.
“We are accelerating as much as possible, it is no coincidence that 15 commissioners are traveling to Kyiv at this time and under these conditions,” stressed the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Joseph Borrell, who will attend both events. But the reality is that the accession process is based on facts and merit, there must be no shortcuts.
“No one seriously believes that Ukraine can join the EU in the next few years, if we are even talking about decades,” confides a senior European diplomatic source. In short, Ukraine’s aspirations – which are confirmed by Zelenskyy’s own comments – are in danger of flying too high and the proposals received so far may not be followed by concrete measures.
In any case, other issues will be addressed at the summit. war of course. The EU will make a renewed commitment to training Ukrainian soldiers – 30,000 instead of 15,000 – and this is now to include tank crews. Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan will be discussed – the EU will support it – and at the same time the issue of reconstruction is also raised, linked to the possible use of frozen assets to Russia by EU and G7 countries. Finally, the tenth package of sanctions is being examined in Brussels, due to see the light of day in time for February 24, the anniversary of the start of the conflict.