BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union began accession talks with Ukraine on Tuesday, 10 years after Russian forces seized the Crimean peninsula to block Ukraine’s access to the West, part of a series of events that has put the two neighbors at odds. The Road to War.
Ukraine’s accession negotiations were launched at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg just hours after Moldova’s, marking a major milestone on both countries’ European journeys, but which could take years to complete.
In his opening remarks, delivered via video link, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmykhal He called it a “historic day” that marks a “new chapter” in relations between Russia and the European Union amid an escalating war with Russia.
“We are well aware that there are still many challenges on the path to membership, but we are ready for them. We have acted quickly and proven that we can make the impossible possible,” Shmychal said.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hajja Labib, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, called it “a historic moment for all of us and a landmark in relations between our two countries.”
Labiv said the EU condemned “Russia’s unjust and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine” and commended the Ukrainian people for their resilience, adding that the EU would continue to support Ukraine’s war “for as long as necessary and as strongly as necessary.”
The Ukrainian delegation arrived in Luxembourg under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina. “This is a truly historic moment for our country. The entire nation is united in this decision,” Stefanishina told reporters upon arriving at the ceremony.
Stefanishina said the hope expressed in the start of the talks would give Ukrainians “the moral strength to continue resisting Russian aggression.”
The intergovernmental conference has formally begun the process of aligning the two countries’ laws and standards with those of the 27-nation coalition, which is particularly concerned about corruption in the two countries, but actual negotiations are not expected to begin for several months.
Ukraine and Moldova It applied for EU membership days or weeks after the Russian invasion in February 2022. By June 2022, EU leaders Made it quickly It’s all official, but things have been moving slowly in Kiev since then, and accession may be years away, if it ever happens at all.
Türkiye’s accession negotiations have been going on fruitlessly for almost two decades.
Nevertheless, the start of the negotiation process would send a strong signal of solidarity with Ukraine. Financial Support The EU has pledged to back Moldova, which faces its own challenges with Russia, providing aid that EU officials estimate is worth 100 billion euros ($107 billion).
“This is a historic event for us at a historic time for Europe and demonstrates our strong commitment to peace, security, stability and prosperity in Europe,” Dorin-Richan said. “We will do everything in our power to achieve our strategic goal of EU membership.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, neighboring Moldova has faced periodic crises that have heightened fears it too could become a Russian target, from an errant missile landing on its territory to an energy crisis after Moscow cut off gas supplies.
“We are very affected by Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine. We help each other not only in security issues but also in European membership and we will continue to do so,” Lissean told reporters.
Candidate countries will have to align their laws and standards with those of the EU in 35 policy areas, known as chapters, ranging from the free movement of goods to fisheries, taxation, energy, environment, justice and security.
Opening or closing a chapter requires unanimous consent of all 27 member states, giving EU countries ample opportunity to request further work or delay the process.
Hungary, which takes over the EU’s rotating presidency from Belgium in July, has regularly put the brakes on EU and NATO support for Ukraine.
“We are still at the beginning of the assessment process. It is very difficult to say at what stage Ukraine is at. As I see it here, as we speak now, they are far from meeting the accession criteria,” Hungary’s European Affairs Minister Janos Boka said upon arriving at the venue.
Ukraine shares borders with EU member states Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, and if it joined the EU it would overtake France as the EU’s largest member state, shifting the centre of gravity further east. As the largest grain producer, Ukraine’s accession would have a major impact on EU agricultural policy.
Ukraine, along with Moldova, joins a long line of countries hoping to join the EU – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey – and has long aspired to join the bloc. Left behind By the rapid advance of Kyiv.
Ukraine wants to join by 2030, but first it needs to implement dozens of institutional and legal reforms. At the top of its daunting list are: Fighting corruption It also includes wide-ranging reforms to the executive and judicial systems.
