Vice-President of European Commission: No talks about Ukraine without Ukraine

Věra Jourová. Stock photo: Getty Images

Věra Jourová, the Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Values and Transparency stated that the position of Ukraine must be taken into account in any negotiations regarding the war with the Russian Federation.

Source: Reuters reports this, as cited by European Pravda 

Details: Jourová stated that she will consider “unacceptable” any talks about the war in Ukraine that do not include Kyiv or involve Ukraine giving up its territory.

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She also stated that she would be “disappointed” if the proposals for increasing financial aid to Kyiv and the recommendation to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union are not approved at the summit of EU leaders on 14-15 December.

Jourová, who worked on her own country’s accession to the EU almost 20 years ago, expressed her understanding of the challenges Ukraine is facing, recalling how difficult it was to meet the requirements for joining the European Union.

The Vice President of the European Commission declined to speculate on whether Hungary would lift its veto in December to allocate money to Kyiv and start membership talks, saying there was now “very intense” diplomatic pressure to convince Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

As she said, the European Commission will adopt a draft EU law this year on the use of funds received from frozen Russian assets in the amount of about 200 billion euros for the benefit of Ukraine.

Earlier, during her visit to Kyiv on Monday, Jourová discussed the process of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union with members of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament).

Reminder:

In the report published on 8 November, the European Commission recommended starting accession negotiations with Kyiv, but before that, Ukraine must conduct some of the reforms that have not yet been implemented. The Ukrainian government speaks of Ukraine’s high level of readiness for accession and promises to complete the negotiations in two years.

At the summit of EU leaders in December, a decision will be considered on whether to start accession negotiations with Ukraine. Currently, the green light may be hindered by Hungary, which promises to block a positive decision for Kyiv.

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