According to a draft resolution seen by EUROPE on Friday 27 January, the EPP group in the European Parliament should call for the publication of the European Commission’s spring report on Ukraine’s progress towards opening EU accession negotiations this year.
A European Parliament resolution is expected to be adopted at the mini-plenary session on 1-2 February, and a debate on Ukraine is expected to take place ahead of the EU/Ukraine summit on 3 February in Kyiv.
The EPP believes that this summit should set out a clear path for the opening of accession negotiations, based on a step-by-step approach, and that it could endorse the call for the Commission to produce an update of the enlargement report on Ukraine in spring 2023.
The group “believes that this report may provide a thorough assessment of the reform progress in Ukraine and potentially open the perspective for a recommendation of the European Commission in Spring 2023 on the start of the accession negotiations in this year”.
Furthermore, the EPP believes that the summit should be used to prioritise the need for a comprehensive EU recovery plan for Ukraine and to support the urgent need to create a special international tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine perpetrated by the political and military leadership of Russia and its allies. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)