Foreign ministers of almost all EU countries visited Kiev on Monday (October 2). Among the few countries represented at a lower level were Poland, where Deputy Minister Wojciech Gerwel came from, Hungary and Latvia, where the government is being reformed.
– This is a historic meeting of the EU Council. The first outside the EU. The first in an EU candidate country. And, unfortunately, the first in a country at war, said Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief. In addition to Ukrainian Minister Dmytro Kuleba, President Volodymyr Zelensky also participated in part of the deliberations.
The meeting of foreign ministers in Kiev began the EU week, during which – already in Granada, Spain – the leaders of EU countries will talk about EU reforms tailored to its enlargement. Then, at the end of October, the European Commission will prepare reports on the state of reforms in Ukraine, Moldova and other EU candidate countries, so that the December EU summit can decide on the opening of official membership negotiations with Kiev and Chisinau. Now there seems to be an agreement.
Baerbock’s significant words and Moscow’s reaction
– Here in Kiev and Ukraine, the heartbeat of Europe is particularly strong. Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union, in our community of freedom one day stretching from Lisbon to Luhansk, said Annalena Baerbock.
This is a paraphrase of the slogan “Europe stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok”, which was already promoted in the times of Mikhail Gorbachev. Among others: German and French diplomacy stuck to it two or three years ago, not giving up subsequent attempts to tighten the economic and political partnership with Russia.
Moscow has already reacted to Baerbock’s words (“we didn’t know we were going to the EU”), because according to the Kremlin, Luhansk – after its illegal annexation – is located in a part of Ukraine that Moscow recognizes as part of Russia.
Borella’s support and billions in aid from the EU
In turn, Borrell, in one of his interviews in Kiev, recalled the example of Cyprus as a country that was admitted to the EU despite the lack of control over its entire territory (i.e. Northern Cyprus). – The best security guarantee that we can offer Ukrainians is membership in the European Union – Borrell emphasized today.
However, the EU’s financial and armament assistance plans for Ukraine, scheduled for several years, are to be part of the security commitments initiated by the G7 group on the occasion of the NATO summit in Vilnius, sometimes called “security guarantees” for Ukraine. In June, the European Commission proposed EUR 50 billion of new budget aid for Ukraine in 2024-27, and Josep Borrell is promoting an additional EUR 5 billion annually for weapons for the same period. The EU should decide on these expenses by the end of this year at the latest.
Hungary continues to block
From 2022, EU countries have already agreed to allocate EUR 3.6 billion to partially refinance arms supplies to Ukraine (Poland will be the largest beneficiary of the refunds agreed so far), but Budapest has been blocking the release of the next, eighth tranche worth half a billion euro for several months.
The official condition for Budapest’s consent was the removal of the Hungarian OTP bank from the list of “war sponsors” (also called the “list of shame”), to which Ukrainians include companies doing business in Russia. But although the Ukrainians temporarily removed OTP from this list last weekend, today in Kiev the Hungarians (Minister Peter Szijjarto was not present) still did not give the green light for the new arms tranche. And according to some EU diplomats, they have started to pile up new obstacles.
The list of “war sponsors” includes companies from other Western countries (including Leroy Merlin, Procter&Gamble and Reiffeisen Bank International). Despite this, none of their home countries raises this issue in negotiations on aid for Ukraine.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is cautious about Slovakia
Minister Kułeba argued against speculations about the West being tired of helping Ukraine or about growing divisions. – So far, we have managed to overcome obstacles – said the Ukrainian minister at a press conference after the meeting in Kiev.
He publicly downplayed concerns that there was not enough money to help Ukraine in the ad hoc budget bill adopted by the US Congress. “We do not feel that U.S. support has been wavered because the United States understands that the stakes in Ukraine are much greater than just Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
Referring to the electoral victory of pro-Russian Robert Fico in Slovakia, Kuleba said it was “too early to assess” the impact of the election results on the country’s politics. Especially since Fico needs coalition partners.
Source: Gazeta
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