The meeting will also discuss holding Russia accountable for crimes of aggression.
Brussels
European the union will make history again on Friday: it will organize a summit with a country at war, i.e. Ukraine, and will also send a large group of representatives to Kiev, which, like other regions of Ukraine, has been the target of Russian missile strikes.
Usually, a summit means a gathering of the heads of state of the EU countries, but the president of the Commission already traveled to Kyiv on Thursday Ursula von der LeyenPresident of the European Council Charles Michel and about two-thirds of the commissioners. Finnish Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen (sd) is not included.
The summit was announced shortly after the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi was successfully visited the United States before Christmas. At that time, it was still open whether Zelenskyi would make a similar visit to Brussels.
The hottest the topic on the negotiation table is Ukraine’s possible EU membership. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said earlier this week in the online newspaper Politico that Ukraine wants to become a member within two years, preferably at the beginning of 2026. This raised hairs in several EU capitals.
We don’t want to discourage Ukrainians, but the schedule is unrealistic. Even so, the Commission officials are amazed at the speed with which Ukraine has progressed in meeting the EU’s requirements now in its candidate phase. Ukraine applied for membership a year ago shortly after Russia invaded the country.
The member states hope that the EU representatives will temper expectations at the negotiating table with Zelenskyi and the Ukrainian government. Membership negotiations that may start after the candidate phase can take years.
Among other things, EU countries are suspicious of the fact that, even before the war, Ukraine had a reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Zelenskyi has tried to dispel this suspicion by attacking suspicions of corruption with force and by firing high officials.
Summit looks ahead to the post-war period, although there is no promise of the end of the war and possible peace negotiations yet. Presented by Zelenskyi in November ten-point peace plan is on display at the meeting.
One central theme of the summit is holding Russia accountable for its aggression. There has also been a discussion in the EU about what would be the model that would one day be used to prosecute Russia for the crime of aggression.
There have been mainly two options: to establish an international independent criminal court with the support of the UN, or a “hybrid model”, i.e. a special court based on Ukrainian national legislation, whose judges would be appointed by representatives of the international community.
In the final conclusions of the meeting, there is a reference to the fact that the EU and Ukraine would jointly establish a research center located in The Hague, which would collect evidence of Russian aggression crimes even more systematically than at present.
Russian accountability also involves how the country compensates for the damage caused to Ukraine.
The EU has frozen the assets of the Russian central bank and the Russian oligarchs together with the G7 group of countries. The central bank’s assets are frozen for around 300 billion euros and the oligarchs’ assets for around 19 billion euros.
Since straight-forward confiscations do not really fit into the Western concept of law, The EU has been feverishly thinking about how the funds would be put to good use and for the reconstruction of Ukraine. One idea is to invest the central bank’s assets in the market and use the proceeds for the benefit of Ukraine, in which case the currency reserve itself could perhaps be returned to Russia.
Union and the member countries have supported Ukraine militarily in the amount of around 12 billion euros. About 3.6 billion of this has gone through the EU peace fund. In the current situation, there is no alternative to continuing the support, but of course the Ukrainians have wishes as to what the aid should include.
After battle tanks, fighter jets have become a wish, which divides EU countries. The fear of an escalation of the war also slowed down tank decisions.
Read more: Ukraine is already hoping for fighter jets – Germany: Not even heard of
According to the calculations of the Council of the EU, the combined economic aid of the EU and the member states to date to Ukraine is close to 50 billion euros. It continues and is still small compared to the costs of possible reconstruction.
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