Austrian Foreign Minister: The EU should not put Ukraine before the Balkans in membership negotiations
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said that the European Union should not put Ukraine before the Western Balkans in membership negotiations.
The head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry made this statement in an interview with the Financial Times.
What Schallenberg said about Ukraine’s membership in the European Union
The Austrian Foreign Minister said that when making a decision at the December summit to begin negotiations on admitting new members, the EU should not give preference to Ukraine over the Western Balkans.
According to the minister, if the European Commission looks at Ukraine through rose-colored glasses, and examines the Western Balkans under a magnifying glass, then this threatens a geostrategic catastrophe.
It is impossible for some groups to move in the overtaking lane, and others in the backup lane, – Schallenberg said in an interview, noting that Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina must be anchored in the EU’s orbit to counter Russian influence in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
The head of Austrian diplomacy believes that the EU needs a different approach compared to previous waves of enlargement in 2004, 2007 and 2013, since if the old approach is maintained, Ukraine will never become part of the community.
According to Schallenberg, the new wave of enlargement should include a long transition period for the inclusion of new members in the common agricultural policy.
As reported, on November 8, the European Commission recommended that the EU Council begin negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina on joining the community, as well as grant candidate status to Georgia.
According to the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, in an ideal development of events, negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU could start in March.
Candidates for EU membership are currently Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Türkiye has been negotiating accession to the EU since 2005.
