Critical voices from the SPD and Austria
Ukraine will become a member of the EU. The EU Commission is in favor of this, but individual member states impose conditions. The news ticker.
- Historical turning point: die EU-Commission recommends that Ukraine to have the status of a candidate country.
- Critical voices: Not all member countries are in favor of including Ukraine as a candidate during the Ukraine war still running.
- What is the Kremlin doing? Acceptance of Ukraine as an EU candidate would above all send a signal Russia.
Update from June 18, 9:30 a.m: More and more politicians are currently in favor of Ukraine joining the EU. The Vice-President of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley (SPD), but disagrees. “There must be no hasty accessions,” said Barley, as the afp writes.
The 53-year-old should be considered, once admission has been made, the country cannot be ruled out. As a negative example, she followed the social democrat’s accession of Hungary. However, Barley welcomes candidate status for Ukraine, saying it is “an important signal in the right direction Moscowthat the EU will not be intimidated when it comes to defending our values”.
EU Commission demands accession candidate status for Ukraine
Update from June 17, 1:12 p.m: “The Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective,” says the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They want to enable the country to live the European dream. That’s what the top German politician said in Brussels when presenting a recommendation to the 27 EU member states (see first report).
Der Leyen made similar statements about Moldova, which, according to an analysis by the commission, should also be given candidate status.
Ukraine-News: EU Commission demands accession candidate status
First report from June 17th: BRUSSELS – The EU Commission is in favor of officially nominating Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for accession to the European Union. The news agency dpa leads from commission circles. The heads of state and government already want to discuss the issue at a summit meeting at the end of next week.
Among other things, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron had endorsed the idea during their trip to Kyiv. What an EU accession of Ukraine for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Wladimir Putin would mean find out here.
Around three and a half months ago, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion applied for admission to the EU. Shortly thereafter, the small neighbor Moldova and Georgia in south-eastern Europe also submitted applications for membership. Moldova recently had around 2.6 million inhabitants, Georgia around 3.7 million.
EU accession of Ukraine: Portugal and the Netherlands against for the time being
The procedure now proposed by the EU Commission envisages giving Ukraine and Moldova the status of EU accession candidates. At the same time, the authority believes that further progress in the accession process should be linked to specific conditions. In both countries there are shortcomings in the area of the rule of law and in the fight against corruption.
Based on the Commission’s recommendation, the EU states must now decide how to proceed. So far, the governments’ views on the subject have differed widely. So countries like hold Portugal and die Netherlands the granting of candidate status to the three states in Eastern Europe, according to diplomats, is premature and purely symbolic.
Another argument put forward by skeptics is that the EU, with its principle of unanimity in matters such as foreign and security policy, is already considered cumbersome. They urge internal reforms first before opening the door to new members. (dpa/frs/afp)