Friday

29th Mar 2024

Dutch seek 'rigorous' EU approach to Ukraine candidacy

  • EU leaders to discuss Ukraine's application in Brussels next week (Photo: European Council)
Listen to article

The Dutch have urged the EU Commission to take a "rigorous" approach in deciding if Ukraine merits being put on the enlargement train.

The Commission is due to unveil its Ukraine recommendation on Friday (17 June).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The informal Dutch paper on Ukraine's application, seen by EUobserver on Thursday but sent to the Commission earlier, says: "The Netherlands reaffirms its commitment to the enlargement process".

But it also says "we reaffirm the need for fair and rigorous conditionality" in taking Ukraine forward.

The Commission's recommendation should be "qualitative" and should "elaborate" which reforms Ukraine must carry out in future, the Dutch paper adds, before listing two pages of reform "priorities", going into detail, such as criminalisation of anti-LGBTI hatred.

The Dutch paper does not take an explicit position on what the EU should do with Ukraine's bid.

But it points to key questions on the table, such as: should the EU give Ukraine a future candidacy promise that is conditional on reforms, as it did with Bosnia? Or should Ukraine leapfrog Bosnia and be put on legal par with North Macedonia and Albania?

French president Emmanuel Macron, the German chancellor, the Italian prime minister, and the Romanian president voiced support for granting Ukraine "immediate candidate status" when they visited Kyiv on Thursday.

And EU leaders will discuss the Ukraine question and the Western Balkans at a summit next week.

They will remain "strongly committed to providing further military support to help Ukraine exercise its inherent right of self-defence," according to a draft communiqué dated 15 June and seen by EUobserver.

They will also voice "full commitment to the unequivocal EU membership perspective of the Western Balkans".

The draft summit conclusions mention "negotiation between Bulgaria and North Macedonia" — amid budding hope Sofia might drop its veto on opening EU accession talks with Skopje and Tirana.

Bulgaria has been insisting North Macedonia says its language and culture are of Bulgarian origin.

And a breakthrough on the impasse might generate positive momentum on enlargement broadly speaking when EU leaders discuss Ukraine's status.

But the Dutch are part of a wider group, including Denmark and Portugal, who have voiced reservations on taking the Ukraine candidacy step, EU diplomats said.

And for all of Macron's enthusiasm in Kyiv, the French are also sending mixed messages by trumpeting Macron's idea of creating a new pan-European intergovernmental body — the European Political Community (EPC).

The EPC would "not replace ... enlargement", the draft summit conclusions say.

But Macron's grand marquee idea is stealing Ukraine's limelight.

The draft summit conclusions place the EPC proposal front-and-centre in a "strategic discussion" on "wider Europe", while turning to the Russian war five paragraphs later and mentioning the Ukraine status question on page four.

The EPC would "foster political dialogue" between the EU and "the Western Balkans, the associated countries of our Eastern Partnership [former Soviet states], and other European countries with whom we have close relations", they say.

Poland and the Baltic States also support immediate Ukraine EU candidacy on moral and strategic grounds.

But amid the Dutch concern on reform and the French EPC half-way house idea, there also lurks the threat of a veto by Russia-leaning EU countries.

An Austrian informal paper on enlargement, dated May, spoke only of more "tangible" Western Balkan enlargement, without mentioning Ukraine's bid (which was filed in February).

"Russian aggression against Ukraine", Austria said, "could have negative collateral effects on the stability of the Western Balkans. As a consequence, the conflict would move from the EU's borders into its very midst".

Orbán's right

For his part, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán recently vetoed a Russia oil embargo and the EU blacklisting of a top Russian churchman.

He was taken to task for it in a letter by Lithuanian liberal MEP Petras Austrevicius.

And if Orbán's reply to Austrevicius, dated 15 June and seen by EUobserver, reflects his mentality going into the EU summit, then there could be choppy water ahead.

Orbán didn't mention Ukraine's candidacy bid, but he accused Austrevicius of being "offensive", resented his "indoctrination", and enshrined Hungary's EU prerogative in quasi-philosophical language.

"The right of veto is conceptually incomprehensible because in the absence of [EU] unanimity, no decision can be made," Orbán said.

"I reserve Hungary's right to speak up with a sincere voice and sober arguments against proposals that run counter to common sense," he told the MEP.

EU heavyweights pledge Ukraine 'immediate' candidate status

French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian premier Mario Draghi and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said they support fast-tracking Ukraine becoming an official candidate to join the bloc.

US envoy: Putin 'humiliated himself' in Ukraine

Russian president Vladimir Putin has "humiliated himself" by his conduct in the war and the West wanted to see him defeated on the battlefields of Ukraine, America's EU ambassador has said.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us