Hungary’s potential veto drama on Ukraine accession talks threatens to forged a shadow of collective failure over the EU’s subsequent summit, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna has warned.
”By the top of the day, it’s a determination of 27 [EU member states] and it is both taken or not. Both there’s a consensus or veto. That is very clear,” Stefanishyna advised a small group of journalists on Monday (11 December) in Brussels.
In a high-stakes diplomatic tango, EU leaders will meet this week to resolve whether or not to open negotiations talks for future EU membership.
However Hungary is threatening to go away Kyiv empty-handed at an important second within the battle.
Many see Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s Ukraine veto as yet one more try to unblock €22bn of EU cash for Budapest.
However ”the stakes are actually excessive” this time, Stefanishyna stated. ”For Ukrainian folks, it is a big and crucial determination”.
She stated the outcomes of the upcoming EU summit may have an effect on the credibility of the EU’s enlargement course of and ongoing discussions in Washington — after the US Senate shot down president Joe Biden’s $100bn overseas support plan (to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan).
In Kyiv, in the meantime, optimism prevails.
And Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, who met on Monday with Hungarian overseas affairs minister Péter Szijjártó to focus on the veto, believes it was potential to achieve an settlement on opening negotiations with Ukraine by Friday. ”It’s concerning the [political] will,” she stated.
”The European Union just isn’t solely Hungary” and the explanations behind the Budapest veto fiasco have little to do with Ukraine and extra with Orbán’s inner politics, she stated.
”It is very legit {that a} member state may put a form of situations for dialogue,” Stefanishyna stated.
However the subject has turn out to be ”extraordinarily emotional for Hungary,” she added, including that the EU’s veto-laden course of is much from supreme.
’The European way forward for Ukraine’
Ukraine, which has been preventing a full-scale invasion by Russia since February final yr, was first granted candidate standing by the European Council in June 2022.
The transfer was seen as the primary assure of ”the European way forward for Ukraine,” Stefanishyna stated.
However unanimity has proved to be a fundamental stumbling block within the enlargement course of previously.
And the Hungarian veto to final month’s suggestion by the European Fee on opening accession talks on the summit in December is yet one more instance of how EU unanimity guidelines will be gamed for nationwide pursuits.
”Ukraine has executed all the things [to ensure the EU opens negotiation talks],” Stefanishyna stated, referring to suggestions made by the fee to legally align the nation nearer to European norms.
”This would possibly look really easy on this capital, however it required monumental efforts to make the choices each day,” she stated. ”No different nation was beneath such urgent circumstances”, she added, referring to the war-time reforms.
The European Fee beneficial final month opening accession talks with Ukraine, however its report stated solely 4 of its seven suggestions had been fulfilled.
This consists of legislative reform of the judiciary, appointing anti-corruption officers, and bringing Ukraine’s media business in step with EU requirements.
On the unfavorable facet, the fee report argues that extra will be executed to struggle corruption within the nation, and that is additionally a priority for Hungary.
Different issues relate to the deoligarchisation and safety of nationwide minorities.
The Ukrainian parliament just lately permitted amendments to the regulation of nationwide minorities.
This was one of many ”most complex points,” Stefanishyna stated, arguing that the federal government had already obtained optimistic suggestions from each Romania and Hungary.
’Fringe of survival’
In the meantime, Ukraine can be hoping EU leaders will attain an settlement on the fee’s proposal to grant €50bn of economic support for Kyiv for the interval 2021-2027.
The package deal is designed to assist pay wages, pensions and sure fundamental public companies.
When requested concerning the penalties of not discovering a breakthrough on the upcoming summit, Stefanishyna stated that interim options might be discovered.
”Nevertheless it undoubtedly can be on the fringe of survival,” she stated, expressing issues about having zero predictability for the subsequent yr.
Orbán stated already in June that the fee’s proposal for the EU funds, which incorporates support to Ukraine, is ”frivolous”.
He stated that it was not ”acceptable” that Brussels was blocking restoration funds to Hungary whereas advocating to provide a further €50bn to Kyiv, prompting hypothesis on a possible workaround by the EU26.