The European Union officially launches negotiations on Tuesday in Luxembourg with Ukraine on the one hand, and Moldova on the other, intended to allow these two countries to one day be full members of the EU.
Russia has sought by all means to obstruct this process, which promises to be long and difficult, leading these two former Soviet republics to anchor themselves to Europe.
“Congratulations to Moldova and Ukraine,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday on X. “The road will be difficult but full of opportunities,” she added in a video message.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the opening of these negotiations last week, hailing the consecration of a “European dream”.
The Twenty-Seven will first formally open discussions with Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 p.m., then with Moldova, within the framework of an intergovernmental conference (IGC).
The opening of these talks is the result of a hard-won agreement by 26 EU countries, who were forced to compete in ingenuity to convince the 27eViktor Orban’s Hungary, not to block the process.
The Hungarian Prime Minister fiercely opposed any accession discussions with Ukraine, judging that this country was not ready. The closest EU member state to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Hungary is also blocking all European military aid to kyiv.
Mr. Orban finally agreed to leave the summit table of the leaders of the Twenty-Seven in December, until his 26 counterparts decided to open these accession negotiations with kyiv and Chisinau.
“Screening”
Once the IGC is formally opened, negotiators will first review the legislation of both countries to check whether it is compatible with that of the EU.
This stage, the “screening” in Brussels jargon, normally lasts one to two years, a diplomatic source explained.
But in the case of Ukraine or Moldova, things will go faster because “we already have a fairly clear idea” of the situation, underlined this European diplomat, on condition of anonymity.
However, it will take several weeks, even several months, before the different negotiation chapters are actually opened. And it is unlikely that they will be before the end of this year: Hungary, reluctant to welcome Ukraine, takes on July 1 the biannual presidency of the Council of the EU, which brings together the ministers of the Twenty-Seven .
The heads of state and government of the European Union had opened the way for these accession negotiations in mid-December 2023.
But Budapest has so far held back the formal opening of discussions with kyiv, judging that the conditions were not met. “If I stick to what I see here as we speak, they (the Ukrainians) are very far from meeting the accession criteria,” Hungarian Minister of European Affairs Janos Boka repeated on Tuesday in Luxembourg.
The European Commission, for its part, estimated on June 7 that Ukraine and Moldova had fulfilled all the prerequisites for such accession.
The European executive has demanded measures from kyiv to fight corruption and the influence of oligarchs. The Commission also asked for better consideration of minorities, a measure insisted on by Budapest due to the presence of a Hungarian community in Ukraine.
The EU granted candidate status for membership to Ukraine in June 2022, in a highly symbolic gesture a few months after the start of the war triggered by Moscow, as well as to neighboring Moldova.
The opening of negotiations is only one step in a long and arduous accession process. A possible entry into the EU of Ukraine, a country of more than 40 million inhabitants and an agricultural power, poses numerous difficulties, starting with that of the financial aid from which it should benefit.
The EU, for its part, plans to reform itself to cope with this enlargement and improve its governance and decision-making, which is already often complex among 27 member states.