EU Membership Talks With War-torn Ukraine
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The European Union launched membership talks with war-torn Ukraine on Tuesday, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West.
Tuesday’s talks began as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now in its third year in a war that is believed to have killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.
Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest nations, was also due to launch its membership talks later Tuesday.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal described it as “a historic day” that marks “a new chapter” in his country’s ties with the 27-nation bloc.
“We fully understand that there is still much work ahead of us on the path to accession. We are ready for it. We have demonstrated that we can move swiftly and achieve the impossible,” Shmyhal said.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, described it as “a historic moment for us all, and marks a milestone in our relationship.”
ORBÁN CRITICAL
The apparent breakthrough came shortly before Hungary was scheduled to take over the EU presidency from Belgium on July 1.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – whose government has always been the closest ally of the Kremlin in the EU –said previously he had not participated in the discussions about accession talks so other member states could make the decision.
He has called the beginning of accession negotiations “a completely senseless, irrational and incorrect decision.”
Orbân says Kyiv still needs to meet several conditions necessary to greenlight accession talks, ranging from better-tackling corruption to improving the rights of the 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine and other minorities.
Ukraine says it already met EU criteria such as improving minority rights, an opinion apparently shared by a Union eager to show Moscow it remains united in what it views as Russian aggression in Ukraine.
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