In an impassioned request, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked that his country join the European Union. The bloc has said Ukraine is “one of us and we want them in the European Union”. But the membership process is long and could take years
The Russia-Ukraine battle becomes more brutal with each passing day. But amid all the escalations Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emerged as a hero. He continues to be at the forefront of the war, refusing to leave the capital Kyiv {his famous words to the US, “I need ammunition, not a ride” are historic}, his resilience has forced the West to change its stance and send military aid to the war-hit nation, and he remains firm on his call for a membership to the European Union {EU}, headquartered in the Belgian capital Brussels.
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A day after officially signing a request to join the trading bloc, he made an impassionate speech to European leaders, calling on them to “prove” their solidarity with Ukraine. On Tuesday, in a video address to the European Parliament, he said, “We have proven our strength. We have proven that, at a minimum, we are exactly the same as you. So, prove that you are with us. Prove that you will not let us go. Prove that you are, indeed, Europeans.”
His speech received a standing ovation; even choked up the translator. But is it enough to earn Ukraine the much-coveted membership of the EU? And most importantly, can it happen sooner than later?
Up for discussion soon
Russia’s continued aggression has earned Ukraine more sympathisers, further pressuring the EU to speed up a potential membership agreement. At an informal summit to be held on 10 and 11 March, leaders of the bloc are likely to discuss the issue.
Saying that the Ukraine situation is on top of the mind of the EU, an official told Reuters, “I think one of the reasons that this is important for President Zelenskyy is also potentially in some of the discussions with Russia on a way out,” referring to talks to end the conflict.
An EU membership is then a possibility for Ukraine. But Zelenskyy’s request for “immediate accession under a new special procedure” is unlikely to be met.
The EU official further told Reuters, “On the application, I think it’s important not to get ahead of ourselves.”
The process
The membership process to the EU is a convoluted one. On Tuesday, an EU spokeswoman said that joining the bloc was a “complex and quite a lengthy process which usually takes years”. “As of today we neither accepted Ukraine’s application to join the EU nor do we have any special admission process underway,” she had said.
There are certain criteria in place for a nation to join the EU. It requires the prospective country to set up a free-market economy, adopt the Euro, and accept EU legislation. These are conditions that cannot be fulfilled overnight.
There are lengthy negotiations involved. The last country to join the EU was Croatia and that took a good 10 years, a Bloomberg report points out.
What other EU member nations have to say
Leaders of eight European nations are backing Ukraine’s call for immediate membership in the bloc. They are demanding that the EU create a “totally new track” which will enable it to fulfill Zelenskyy’s request.
“We, the Presidents of the EU member states: the Republic of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, the Slovak Republic, and the Republic of Slovenia strongly believe that Ukraine deserves receiving an immediate EU accession perspective,” they said in an open letter.
While Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has said that the bloc wants Ukraine as part of the EU, she stuck to the same official stand: the membership process would happen “overtime”. It is “one of us and we want them in the European Union,” she told Euro News. “We have a process with Ukraine that is, for example, integrating the Ukrainian market into the single market,” she added.
How joining the EU will benefit Ukraine
If Ukraine joins the EU immediately, it will receive military help. According to a mutual defence clause, “if an EU country is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other EU countries have an obligation to aid and assist it by all the means in their power”. All EU nations are bound by this obligation of mutual defence, reports Forbes.
The report further states that an EU membership would come with economic benefits like free movement through the bloc. Ukrainians will also enjoy all the rights which are granted to citizens of the EU.
What’s the EU doing for Ukraine right now
Instead of busying itself with membership negotiations, the EU believes that it needs to provide immediate aid to Zelenskyy to fight the ongoing aggression.
For the first time, the EU announced that it will finance the delivery of weapons to Ukraine to fight the invasion.
In an address to the European Parliament on Tuesday, Von der Leyer said that the bloc has committed to stopping Putin and that it would never accept the takeover of Ukraine. For the first time, it is using the European budget “to purchase and deliver military equipment to a country that is under attack” in a EUR500m (Rs 4207.5 crore) pledge, she announced. Another EUR500m will be provided for humanitarian aid.
The European Union had earlier imposed severe sanctions on Russia. It has closed its airspace to Russian aircraft and banned the country’s state-owned television network Russia today and news agency Sputnik. It has frozen the European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
On Tuesday, it extended the sanctions to Russia’s oligarchs including Mikhail Fridman, Alisher Usmanov, Alexey Mordashov, Gennady Timchenko, and Alexander Ponomarenko, to cripple the country’s economy. The sanctions include an asset freeze and a travel ban.
The EU also plans to impose sanctions on Russian ally Belarus. It is likely to introduce measures that will hit exports of products like fuel, tobacco, cement, steel, and iron. It will put export restrictions on dual-use goods from Russia so that such materials are not used for military ops.
What is Russia’s stand on Ukraine joining the EU?
The talks about Ukraine’s EU membership will further alienate Russia. “What apparently President Putin does not want is a Ukraine that is more European,” former EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told Euro News.
With inputs from agencies
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