The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that Ukraine’s entry into the community will not necessarily happen in 2030.
The head of the EU foreign policy service made this statement upon arrival at the informal EU summit in Spain.
This is reported by .
What Borrell said about the timing of Ukraine’s admission to the EU
The head of European diplomacy stated that Ukraine, having become the last candidate to join the EU, is now pushing forward the countries that became candidates earlier.
We need this line to start moving quickly, – he said, noting that an individual approach must be applied to each candidate.
Commenting on the statement by European Council President Charles Michel that Ukraine could join the EU in 2030 if conditions are met, Borrell said that 2030 is a political horizon set to mobilize political energy.
This is not an exact date, – added the EU’s chief diplomat.
The informal EU summit in Granada, Spain is also dedicated to discussing the reforms that need to be carried out to admit new countries into the community.
The first reform projects include, in particular, a significant expansion of the powers of the European Commission and other supranational European structures, the deprivation of countries’ veto rights in the EU Council, a significant increase in countries’ contributions to the budget and the redistribution of budget funds, which may mean the end of European subsidies to all recipients, including the Baltic countries and Poland.
The day before, Borrell said that the EU would not have committed to Ukraine’s membership if not for the conflict.
Ukraine applied to join the EU on February 28 last year. On June 23, 2022, at the EU summit, the leaders of the community countries approved granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.
To launch negotiations on accession to the EU, countries need to fulfill a number of conditions, including carrying out reforms.
According to the preliminary report of the European Commission on Ukraine’s readiness for negotiations, released on June 22, the country has fully fulfilled only two of the seven conditions – legislation on judicial reform and media freedom has been adopted.
