Germany wants Ukraine to begin formal talks on joining the European Union (EU) by the end of the year. Speaking at a conference in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday said that she was confident that next month the EU would advance Kyiv’s membership bid.
She suggested that candidate nations should be given some of the benefits of an EU membership even before they fully enter the bloc.
The German minister said there was a need to plough ahead with “tedious” internal reforms so that it could function with 30-plus members and greater centralisation of power within the EU.
According to the Times, she proposed this could be done by stripping individual countries of their veto rights and simplification of the sprawling administrative apparatus — under which 27 member states are in charge of their own individual policy brief.
“We want to see Ukraine a member of our European Union,” she said, adding, “The European Union has to be enlarged. That is the geo-political consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
EU to decide soon
As per Reuters, the EU will soon reach a decision on the start of talks about Ukraine joining the bloc. They are expected to reach a decision about the beginning of the formal start of Kyiv’s membership talks at the December 14-15 summit.
“I am convinced that the European Council in December is going to send out that signal,” said the German Minister.
“However, an enlarged EU will only be stronger if we do what we have been so hesitant to do for so long – review and rethink the way in which our union functions,” she added.
Ukraine ‘optimistic’
AFP reports that speaking ahead of the conference in Berlin, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Kyiv was optimistic about its efforts to open EU membership talks this year.
“We are optimistic. We did a lot of reforms and we passed legislation necessary to meet, to implement the recommendations,” said Kuleba.
“So we are looking forward to the presentation of this report and I have reasons to believe that it will pave the way to the decision of the European Council on opening accession talks with Ukraine.”
The war-torn nation applied for the supranational political and economic union’s membership just days after Russia launched its invasion on 24 February 2022.
Source : WION
