On Monday 11 December, ahead of a meeting with his counterparts from the 27 EU Member States, Ukrainian foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba underlined the “devastating” consequences of the EU failing to take a decision on the opening of negotiations for his country’s accession to the EU.
“I don’t even want to talk about the devastating consequences that will occur shall the Council fail to make this decision, not only with regard to Ukraine, but in a broader sense on the issue of enlargement as a whole. We’ve done our homework. We expect the European Union to do its homework”, he explained on his arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council. In his view, the unity and credibility of the EU are at stake.
The minister warned that failure would be a “huge demotivation” for Ukrainians, but that it would have no impact on their willingness to defend their country. He described as a “miscalculation” the idea that a lack of decision could lead to concessions from Ukraine.
Mr Kuleba recalled that his country had adopted legislation on national minorities, as requested by Budapest. “Ukraine has amended its legislation on education and the use of the language of national minorities in line with Hungary’s wishes. This fact must be respected”, he warned.
Hungarian foreign affairs minister Peter Szijjártó remained firm on his country’s positions, warning that it would not accept “any pressure” and would resist “any form of blackmail or temptation”.
In his opinion, Ukraine is not sufficiently prepared for its integration into the EU. He also expressed concern about the lack of detailed accounting of EU financial support to Ukraine and the uncertain situation of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia under Ukraine’s new law on minorities.
This position has been publicly criticised by several ministers. On their arrival at the Council, Finland’s Elina Valtonen described the Hungarian position as “truly deplorable”. “The only way I can interpret the Hungarian position, not only on Ukraine but on many other issues, is that they are against Europe and everything that Europe stands for. I think it’s a conflict of ideologies between those who want Europe to be strong and those who don’t want the EU at all”, added Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis.
In addition to the issue of enlargement, which Mr Kuleba considers to be “the most important”, the ‘Ukraine Facility’, the Ukraine component of the European Peace Facility, and the adoption of the 12th package of sanctions against Russia are still under negotiation.
Reaffirmation of European support for Ukraine
Speaking to the media, the EU’s High Representative, Josep Borrell, explained that the vast majority of foreign affairs ministers felt that this was not the time to weaken support for Ukraine, but rather to increase and accelerate it. “Now is the time to step up our support for Ukraine. Ukraine needs our economic, political and military support”, added the Latvian minister Krišjānis Kariņš.
This support is expected to be reaffirmed at the European Council. According to a draft set of conclusions dated 7 December and obtained by EUROPE, EU leaders are expected to confirm that the EU has an “unwavering commitment to continue to provide strong political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes”.
The High Representative, like the draft conclusions, puts particular emphasis on military support. Mr Borrell called for an agreement on the 8th tranche of support for Ukraine of €500 million, as well as on raising the ceiling of the European Peace Facility by €5 billion.
According to the draft conclusions, the European Council could invite the EU Council “to intensify work on the ‘Ukraine Assistance Fund’ under the European Peace Facility, including on a further increase of the overall financing ceiling [by €5 billion] with a view to reaching an agreement no later than March 2024”.
The European Council should also promise that the EU and the Member States will continue to respond to Ukraine’s pressing military and defence needs and stress the urgency of speeding up the delivery of missiles and munitions and providing Ukraine with more air defence systems.
The European Council should also invite the EU Council to take work forward on security commitments.
With Mr Borrell recalling that, for the first time in more than 2 months, Russia has carried out a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, the European Council is expected to announce that, “in the face of continued Russian attacks against Ukraine’s civil and critical infrastructure, the European Union and its Member States will intensify the provision of further humanitarian and civil protection assistance to Ukraine, as well as assistance to ensure the resilience of its energy sector through the winter”.
The European Council should also call once again for decisive progress on how extraordinary revenues held by private entities and derived directly from Russia’s immobilised assets could be allocated to support Ukraine. The European Commission is expected to make a proposal on Tuesday.
The European Council should also stress that the EU remains determined to further weaken Russia’s ability to wage its war of aggression, in particular by further strengthening its sanctions, applying them fully and effectively and preventing their circumvention. The 12th sanctions package is still under discussion.
See the European Council’s draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/a35 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)