Ukraine-EU summit will commend Kyiv's progress, but promises of swift accession are unlikely

The European Union will commend Ukraine for its progress on the reforms needed for accession, and it will send a strong signal to Moscow, but member states remain divided over the speed of accession.

Source: Euractiv, referring to the draft communiqué of the Ukraine-EU summit, which will take place on 3 February in Kyiv, reports European Pravda

Details: According to the draft communiqué, EU and Ukrainian leaders are set to reiterate "the future of Ukraine and its citizens lies within the European Union" and "its commitment to support Ukraine's further European integration".

"The EU acknowledged the considerable progress that Ukraine demonstrated in the recent months towards meeting the objectives underpinning its candidate status for EU membership, welcomed Ukraine's reform efforts in such difficult times, and encouraged the country to continue on this path and to fulfil the conditions specified in the Commission's opinion on its membership application to advance towards future EU membership," the draft communiqué states.

Beyond the anticipated language on EU accession, progress is expected in such areas as customs-free access for Ukrainian exports, access to the bloc's roaming-free zone and inclusion in the single euro payment zone.

Both sides are also set to sign a memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership in the field of renewable energy sources.

The EU ambassadors are expected to agree on the final version of the summit communiqué on 31 January.

Four EU diplomats told Euractiv that during the last few weeks, the member states argued about the positive wording of the text regarding the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU.

Poland, the three Baltic states, and Ukraine have been pushing for language that would indicate to Kyiv its membership application can be sped up.

"What we expect from the summit is encouragement for Ukraine and a clear assessment of the progress they have made. Although it’s just a statement, words matter, which is why we are pushing for a more encouraging version of the text," an Eastern European EU diplomat said.

In June, the European Commission recommended Ukraine be given the status of a candidate for EU membership, on the condition that Kyiv takes a number of legislative and political steps known as the "seven recommendations".

These recommendations included the adoption of a law on the selection process of the country's Constitutional Court's judges on a competitive basis, strengthening the fight against corruption, harmonising media regulation within EU standards, and protecting national minorities.

However, despite the decision to grant Kyiv candidate status, the prospect of Ukraine joining in the near future remains remote.

"A large number of large member states will not accept too positive language – not in the least because the agreed language is hardly a month old, so no one's ready to reopen a difficult discussion that we’ve only just concluded," one EU diplomat said. 

Several EU diplomats said that the language in the draft declaration has become "too forward-leaning for some more sceptical member states", with pushback expected from France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark and Belgium.

The more sceptical member states deem the reference to "considerable progress" as too premature and "pre-empting the normal steps in the accession process" as no formal assessment of Ukraine's progress has been presented yet.

They would prefer to stick with the language used at the June European Council and the agreed-upon process, under which the European Commission is expected to provide an interim update on Ukraine’s progress in fulfilling the seven requirements that the EU set to start accession talks.

This update would come in addition to the regular assessment done as part of the Commission's annual enlargement package regularly published in October, where further recommendations are likely to be added.

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