February 7, 2023 - 5:00pm
A planned visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Brussels this week would be hailed as another step forward on Ukraine’s European path. But with Ukraine left disappointed by the EU’s apparent lack of commitment to its membership application at a summit in Kyiv last week, Zelenskyy’s return visit may not bring him any concrete results. That’s if it even goes ahead, as leaks from Brussels threaten to scupper the plan entirely.
The EU gave President Zelenskyy an “open invitation” to Brussels, but Kyiv didn’t leap at the offer: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Zelenskyy would only make overseas trips with the prospect of “specific results for Ukraine”. Security fears have been cited as potentially thwarting the visit. While Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington in December was shrouded in secrecy, the EU has seemingly leaked his planned arrival days in advance.
And even if the trip does happen, it’s hard to see what benefits it will bring to Ukraine. The rhetoric at last week’s EU-Ukraine summit was upbeat, but there will have been private disappointment about the EU’s marked reticence on the big question of Ukrainian membership. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal set out an ambitious two-year timetable for his country’s EU accession ahead of the summit, but the EU poured cold water on these plans and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen refused to be drawn on a specific timeframe.
The obstacles to Ukraine joining the bloc are real. Yet at the same time, the EU seems to lack the political will to make many exceptions for the country’s extraordinary circumstances. French President Emmanuel Macron had earlier said it could take “several decades” for Ukraine to join the EU, and his new European Political Community, a larger association of European countries, was seen partly as a way of keeping Ukraine happy without granting it full membership status.
Zelenskyy would be right to be wary about being fobbed off again by EU leaders, who may be keener on photo opportunities than real progress. Going to Brussels now could set a precedent in which he appears as just another peripheral “hopeful” in the EU’s political orbit, rather than a unique statesman leading a war effort for the sake of his country’s European path.
The visit could be uncomfortable in other ways, too. Plans for Zelenskyy to join a lunch of the European Council would bring him into direct contact with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who provoked outrage in recent days by describing Ukraine as ungovernable, saying that “it’s Afghanistan now” and a “no man’s land”. Ukraine summoned the Hungarian ambassador over the “completely unacceptable remarks,” while the Mayor of Dnipro described Orbán‘s government as “bastards” and “scumbags”. As the EU tries to agree another sanctions package to be imposed on Russia, now is not the time for Ukraine’s tensions with the bloc’s leading sanctions rebel to be exacerbated.
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Subscribe“the EU seems to lack the political will to make many exceptions for the country’s extraordinary circumstances…”
And why should they? There are a bunch of rules for accession and the EU is ALL ABOUT THE RULES, right? No cherry-picking and all that. Countries like North Macedonia have been waiting years for accession negotiations to be started…why should Ukraine suddenly leapfrog everybody because it has been attacked (however awful that is)?
Again: this is about rules and procedures – not bleeding hearts. The EU should never have allowed itself to be railroaded into giving UA candidate status. It was an empty promise right from the off, but now they seem surprised that the Ukraine is holding them to it and that just highlights their own folly.
The general moral of the story: never decide important stuff when you are in a state of high emotion.
Except that the EU is NOT “all about the rules” Katherine. They laid down specific entry criteria (most importantly about reducing corruption) for the entry of Romania and Bulgaria. These were not met when those countries joined the EU. I’m fairly sure they are still not met today.
Instead, a political decision was made not to delay the entry of Romania and Bulgaria. Any leverage over reducing corruption in those countries was then lost.
The EU is a political project first. If you want a proper, rule of law country you’re living in one right now. That’s one of the reasons the UK didn’t really fit into the EU.
I agree with the rest of your comment about Ukraine joining the EU.
The French and Germans seem to pick and choose which rules they want to follow in fairness, but then it is their club and they make the rules for the rest to follow
Except that the EU is NOT “all about the rules” Katherine. They laid down specific entry criteria (most importantly about reducing corruption) for the entry of Romania and Bulgaria. These were not met when those countries joined the EU. I’m fairly sure they are still not met today.
Instead, a political decision was made not to delay the entry of Romania and Bulgaria. Any leverage over reducing corruption in those countries was then lost.
The EU is a political project first. If you want a proper, rule of law country you’re living in one right now. That’s one of the reasons the UK didn’t really fit into the EU.
I agree with the rest of your comment about Ukraine joining the EU.
The French and Germans seem to pick and choose which rules they want to follow in fairness, but then it is their club and they make the rules for the rest to follow
“the EU seems to lack the political will to make many exceptions for the country’s extraordinary circumstances…”
And why should they? There are a bunch of rules for accession and the EU is ALL ABOUT THE RULES, right? No cherry-picking and all that. Countries like North Macedonia have been waiting years for accession negotiations to be started…why should Ukraine suddenly leapfrog everybody because it has been attacked (however awful that is)?
Again: this is about rules and procedures – not bleeding hearts. The EU should never have allowed itself to be railroaded into giving UA candidate status. It was an empty promise right from the off, but now they seem surprised that the Ukraine is holding them to it and that just highlights their own folly.
The general moral of the story: never decide important stuff when you are in a state of high emotion.
So ‘concerns about corruption’ are a major obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Maybe the Eurocrats should put their own house in order before trying impose standards on anyone else.
As for the title of the piece – the answer is…of course they are! A photo op with Zelensky is the hottest ticket in the West right now. Witness desperate Rishi’s sycophantic pandering to him today in London.
So ‘concerns about corruption’ are a major obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Maybe the Eurocrats should put their own house in order before trying impose standards on anyone else.
As for the title of the piece – the answer is…of course they are! A photo op with Zelensky is the hottest ticket in the West right now. Witness desperate Rishi’s sycophantic pandering to him today in London.
Here is an Australian who fought in Afghanistan who is dieing of a brain tumor that did 6 months in Ukraine as a reporter and does a blog on the Ukraine War. AMAZING – not like the fox-hole bromance drivel reported here – but young people fighting and dying and suffering and PSTD and horrors of war.
Watch this couple hours of a young American he interviews who did a tour in combat in Ukraine out of the idealism like the Spanish Revolution young foreign volunteers in the 1930s – a fair bit of tears as he speaks – manly tears that only came by the horrors he went through. This young man paints the picture so you can see it – really – watch it instead of some stupid Netflix junk…. It is enjoyable actually, because he is a good man, and he is telling you of what you would never otherwise know – and he is so human, so relatable, such a nice young man who went not knowing – and now does, and tells us… and we know more after…
He describes it so well – Iraq, Afghanistan – how they were super armed up, helicopters for injured to medics waiting – how it was NOTHING, NOTHING for the Western solider like the Meat-gringer where poor men meet man on man to die horribly, or kill, or get maimed and PSDT in Ukraine – and the war really is hell….
Watch this if you have some opinion on this war – how can you hold an opinion if you have not heard what it really is – You need to watch – in many ways it is uplifting because this young man is so real, a good guy, and he stood through it, but is changed forever, and so are we by watching it – it is a good video, like I say it is as uplifting as down because it is so human, and so good always is there, with the bad……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ-iVzR_Yyc&t=9s
Here is an Australian who fought in Afghanistan who is dieing of a brain tumor that did 6 months in Ukraine as a reporter and does a blog on the Ukraine War. AMAZING – not like the fox-hole bromance drivel reported here – but young people fighting and dying and suffering and PSTD and horrors of war.
Watch this couple hours of a young American he interviews who did a tour in combat in Ukraine out of the idealism like the Spanish Revolution young foreign volunteers in the 1930s – a fair bit of tears as he speaks – manly tears that only came by the horrors he went through. This young man paints the picture so you can see it – really – watch it instead of some stupid Netflix junk…. It is enjoyable actually, because he is a good man, and he is telling you of what you would never otherwise know – and he is so human, so relatable, such a nice young man who went not knowing – and now does, and tells us… and we know more after…
He describes it so well – Iraq, Afghanistan – how they were super armed up, helicopters for injured to medics waiting – how it was NOTHING, NOTHING for the Western solider like the Meat-gringer where poor men meet man on man to die horribly, or kill, or get maimed and PSDT in Ukraine – and the war really is hell….
Watch this if you have some opinion on this war – how can you hold an opinion if you have not heard what it really is – You need to watch – in many ways it is uplifting because this young man is so real, a good guy, and he stood through it, but is changed forever, and so are we by watching it – it is a good video, like I say it is as uplifting as down because it is so human, and so good always is there, with the bad……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ-iVzR_Yyc&t=9s
How interesting,people say one thing,were right behind you,well support you,we believe in the justice of your cause, we’ll bust you out of jail if it comes to that – and they dont mean it. They actually find you expensive and embarrassing and while they’ll smile for photos they’ll turn away and leave you isolated once the cameras are off. People are self serving and fake. Who’d have thought it!
What, should they have not invited him then?
EU supports Ukraine. Anti-EU Brexiter attacks EU anyway.
There’s a deep-seated collective mental health issue playing out here.
The Brexiters’ need for an eternal external scapegoat is telling.
What, should they have not invited him then?
EU supports Ukraine. Anti-EU Brexiter attacks EU anyway.
There’s a deep-seated collective mental health issue playing out here.
The Brexiters’ need for an eternal external scapegoat is telling.