Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on December 17 that Ukraine and the European Commission (EC) will soon assess Kiev's progress in bringing its laws into line with those of the European Union (EU) and that a framework for EU accession negotiations is expected to be established in the spring.
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| Ukrainian President Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen exchange flags during a joint briefing in Kiev, February 2023. (Source: EPA) |
The Financial Times quoted European diplomatic sources as saying that EU member states are considering the possibility of stripping Hungary of its voting rights in order to reach an agreement on funding allocation for Ukraine.
According to them, the EU could invoke Article 7 of the 2007 Treaty, which allows for the stripping of a country’s voting rights for violating European law. This process could be blocked by any other EU member, but, as the newspaper notes, after the recent elections in Poland, Hungary “no longer has a guaranteed protector” in the EU.
Some members of the community, however, remain wary of the idea of imposing restrictions on Budapest, instead intending to demonstrate to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the “real cost” of his country’s isolation within the EU, in order to force Hungary to change its stance on allocating funds to Ukraine.
If this tactic does not work, the 26 countries in the association could sign an agreement to support Kiev without Hungary's participation, but this would take more time and “would only be a temporary solution,” the newspaper wrote.
On December 15, Mr. Orban said that Budapest does not intend to support providing financial assistance to Ukraine from the EU budget. He confirmed that at the EU Summit in Brussels, he blocked amendments to the community budget that would allocate 50 billion euros to Ukraine for the period 2024-2027.
Meanwhile, at the Summit on December 14, on the Kiev side, President Zelensky and EU leaders decided to launch negotiations on formal membership with Ukraine.
“In the coming days, together with the EC, we will officially launch the process of reviewing Ukraine’s legislation for compliance with EU law – this is a screening process. We are also preparing a negotiating framework for Ukraine. We hope that the framework will be established by spring,” Zelensky said.
The EC said in November that Ukraine had completed four of its seven recommendations, including appointing anti-corruption officials, preparing for judicial reforms and aligning media laws with EU standards.
In addition, the EC said it would assess Ukraine's progress again in March 2024, part of a "long and complex path" towards membership, a process that EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova described as "extremely exhausting".
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