To what extent did the summit in Kyiv bring Ukraine's membership in the European Union closer?

Kyiv hosted the first Ukraine-EU summit since the outbreak of hostilities.What the parties managed to agree on and what are the prospects for the entry of the warring republic into the European Union - in the material of RBC

The talks between the leadership of Ukraine and the European Union started on February 2 and lasted two days, starting with a meeting between the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the European commissioners who arrived with her with the Ukrainian government and President Volodymyr Zelensky. On the second day, the official Ukraine-EU summit was held, which became the 24th in a row and the first since February 24, 2022.

The significance of the event was emphasized by the composition of the delegation that arrived from Brussels. In addition to von der Leyen, the head of the EU foreign service, Josep Borrell, and 14 European commissioners (ministers), including the deputy head of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, arrived in Kyiv. For von der Leyen, the current visit to the Ukrainian capital was the fourth since the beginning of the military operation, for the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, who arrived in Kyiv on Friday, the first in this period.

“The meeting between the European Commission and the Ukrainian government will provide an opportunity to exchange views on many areas of cooperation and discuss the upcoming recovery, as well as the country's European path. It will also provide an opportunity to deepen further cooperation with Ukraine,” this is how the European Commissioners’ visit to Kyiv was announced in the EC. According to the Euractiv portal, the main topics of the consultations were to be the provision of military assistance to Ukraine, as well as agreements on deepening the integration processes between the EU and Ukraine, including the latter's accession to the EU single market, expansion of the zone without roaming and participation in programs that allow Kyiv to get access to EU funds.

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What was agreed in the end

Josep Borrell, following the results of the Kyiv meeting, announced an increase in the European training mission to train the Ukrainian military twice. “The European training mission will train an additional 15,000 Ukrainian military, bringing the total number of trained personnel to 30,000,” he wrote on his Twitter account. At the talks between the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmyhal and Dombrovskis, issues of restoring Ukraine were discussed. According to the head of the Ukrainian government, this year Kyiv will need $17 billion in financial assistance, despite the fact that the country has already received €3 billion of the promised €18 billion from the European Union. In addition, according to him, Brussels will allocate €25 million for a demining program. Von der Leyen announced the decision to allocate 2.4 thousand power generators and €120 million to Ukraine for the purchase of power equipment, to guarantee the operation of the power grid, which was damaged as a result of Russian strikes. On Friday, von der Leyen visited a branch of Ukrposhta to assess the progress of another joint energy project - the introduction of LED lamps, which launched in January (the European Union provided the country with 5 million such lamps, Zelensky said; Ukrainians are offered to exchange up to five ordinary lamps for new ones). The Government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on Kyiv's participation in the EU Single Market program (it was approved for the period from 2021 to 2027; the goal is to simplify Ukraine's access to the markets of the EU countries and support its business) and concluded a memorandum of partnership in the field of renewable gases , biomethane, hydrogen and other synthetic gases. On Friday, von der Leyen visited a branch of Ukrposhta to assess the progress of another joint energy project - the introduction of LED lamps, which launched in January (the European Union provided the country with 5 million such lamps, Zelensky said; Ukrainians are offered to exchange up to five ordinary lamps for new ones). The Government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on Kyiv's participation in the EU Single Market program (it was approved for the period from 2021 to 2027; the goal is to simplify Ukraine's access to the markets of the EU countries and support its business) and concluded a memorandum of partnership in the field of renewable gases , biomethane, hydrogen and other synthetic gases. On Friday, von der Leyen visited a branch of Ukrposhta to assess the progress of another joint energy project - the introduction of LED lamps, which launched in January (the European Union provided the country with 5 million such lamps, Zelensky said; Ukrainians are offered to exchange up to five ordinary lamps for new ones). The Government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on Kyiv's participation in the EU Single Market program (it was approved for the period from 2021 to 2027; the goal is to simplify Ukraine's access to the markets of the EU countries and support its business) and concluded a memorandum of partnership in the field of renewable gases , biomethane, hydrogen and other synthetic gases. Zelensky said; Ukrainians are offered to exchange up to five ordinary lamps for new ones). The Government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on Kyiv's participation in the EU Single Market program (it was approved for the period from 2021 to 2027; the goal is to simplify Ukraine's access to the markets of the EU countries and support its business) and concluded a memorandum of partnership in the field of renewable gases , biomethane, hydrogen and other synthetic gases. Zelensky said; Ukrainians are offered to exchange up to five ordinary lamps for new ones). The Government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on Kyiv's participation in the EU Single Market program (it was approved for the period from 2021 to 2027; the goal is to simplify Ukraine's access to the markets of the EU countries and support its business) and concluded a memorandum of partnership in the field of renewable gases , biomethane, hydrogen and other synthetic gases.

What became known about the new anti-Russian sanctions

The head of the European Commission, speaking to reporters on Friday, described in more detail the new sanctions against Russia. “The tenth package of sanctions is on the way, its volume will be €10 billion,” she said, noting that the new restrictions should “close the existing gaps” in the existing sanctions packages and will be adopted by the anniversary of the start of the special operation. Zelensky added that the sanctions imposed on Russia should not allow it to strengthen its military potential. He indicated the country's intention to hold Bakhmut (Russian name - Artemovsk) for as long as possible, and once again called on Western countries to provide Kyiv with long-range weapons.

Politicians and stars: who visits Zelensky in Kyiv. Photo gallery Photo gallery 

Von der Leyen also said that Brussels is "exploring ways to use Russian state assets for the benefit of Ukraine" (previously valued at €300 billion). She announced the creation of an international center for the investigation of crimes in Ukraine in The Hague, noting that it will coordinate the collection of evidence, which is already carried out by the prosecutors of Ukraine and the EU.

The Russian side has repeatedly declared the futility of creating any such structures. According to Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, they will have no legitimacy and will not be accepted by Russia.

How close is Ukraine's accession to the European Union?

EU representatives brought to Kyiv a report on the second part of the questionnaire, which is needed for joining the European Union and which Kyiv filled out in the spring of 2022. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday noted with satisfaction that this report is “very thin”, which indicates that Brussels has not made many recommendations. According to the President of Ukraine, based on this document, the Ukrainian authorities will start working on a plan to bring Ukrainian legislation closer to the EU system.

Zelenskiy also reiterated his call to begin the country's EU accession process as early as this year. According to him, Ukraine will not lose "not a day." In response, the head of the European Commission said that "there are no hard deadlines in the process of European integration, this is a process that depends on the fulfillment of all conditions." Michel noted Kyiv's success in fulfilling the conditions for joining the association. “Ukraine is the EU, the EU is Ukraine,” the head of the European Council stressed. “The EU is with you today, the EU will be with you and your people tomorrow,” he added.

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The rapprochement process intensified four days after the start of the military operation - Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the application for EU membership on February 28, 2022. At the summit in Brussels on June 23, 2022, the European Union decided to satisfy Kyiv's request for candidate status. The situation is unprecedented: Ukraine became a candidate in the conditions of hostilities in four months, while, for example, the Balkan countries have been joining the EU since the mid-2000s and have been waiting for candidate status for several years.

At the same time, the EU named seven points that Ukraine must fulfill in order to join the union. These include the reform of the Constitutional Court and the continuation of judicial reform, the intensified fight against corruption, the adoption of a law limiting the influence of oligarchs, and changing the legislation on national minorities.

Following Ukraine, on March 3, 2022, Moldova and Georgia submitted their applications to the EU. On June 23, Chisinau received candidate status. Tbilisi, however, was denied this, recognizing only its European perspective. The EU has outlined 12 recommendations that Georgia needs to fulfill along the way, in particular the fight against corruption and strengthening the rule of law. On February 2, the EC published reports on the applications of the three countries. In a document dedicated to Georgia, the commission praised Tbilisi's achievements in the areas of combating illegal migration and terrorism, public procurement, freedom, justice and security. The head of the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Ilya Darchiashvili, said: the report confirms that Georgia deserves candidate status.

On the eve of the current summit, Shmygal announced Kyiv's "very ambitious plan" to join the EU within the next two years. “We expect that already this year, in 2023, we will be able to start the preliminary stage of negotiations,” he said in an interview with Politico on January 30. However, the publication noted that no one in the EU considers such a deadline to be realistic - the main task of the European commissioners during a visit to Kyiv "probably will be to manage expectations."

Two days later, Politico, referring to a draft EU statement, said that representatives of Brussels intend to "cool the hopes" of Kyiv for an early entry into the community. Specific terms in the document are not mentioned, notes the edition; “instead, it provides only broad guarantees for the process to move forward once all the milestones outlined by the EU have been passed.” On February 3, the British Guardian reported that, according to its information, in the negotiations, EU leaders will try to soften the expectations of Kyiv, while avoiding public statements that could "weaken the morale of Ukraine."

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At a press conference on February 2, Shmygal, saying that the European Commission positively assessed the efforts made by Kyiv on the path of European integration, made the following forecast: in the spring of 2023, the EC will present its formalized conclusions on the process of Ukraine's accession to the EU, and by the end of the year will give the European Council recommendations to start with Ukraine membership negotiations. At the same time, the Ukrainian prime minister does not expect that the decision will be made automatically: Kyiv understands that it depends on all 27 EU countries and that discussions will take time. “When I talk about two years, I mean that we will make every effort to put the EU on the table with a report that we are ready,” Shmyhal specified. “But we understand that after that, the decision will take time. But we want to complete our part of the work as quickly as possible” (hereinafter, quotes from Evropeyskaya Pravda).

Ursula von der Leyen refrained from specifying specific dates, while saying that it is possible to quickly fulfill the requirements of Brussels. “The goal [to be achieved in order to join the EU] is standardized. But the speed with which this goal is achieved is different for each country,” she noted, adding that “some states are fast, some are slow, some are even moving backwards.”