The EU held on Tuesday afternoon the first Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) at ministerial level to open accession negotiations with Ukraine but real negotiations will start after a bilateral screening process.
The conference (IGC) took place in Luxembourg after the EU member states last week approved the Negotiating Framework for the negotiations with Ukraine based on a draft proposal from the European Commission. The negotiations will be conducted in accordance with the revised enlargement methodology from February 2020.
The intergovernmental conference will take place at least once a year, after the adoption of the Council conclusions taking into account the Commission's annual enlargement package. The conferences will provide political steer and a forum for political dialogue on the reform process.
The EU delegation was led by Hadja Lahbib, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Belgium, accompanied by Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi. The delegation of Ukraine was led by Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal addressed the conference from Kyiv.
After the European Council decision in December 2023 to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, expectations were high that they would start relatively rapidly as Ukraine was close to completing all required measures in the seven steps in the reform process. The European Commission also announced that it would start the screening process regarding Ukraine’s EU application before the conference.
EU law (acquis) is divided in 33 chapters that are grouped in six clusters. While some kind of explanatory screening of Ukraine’s compliance with the acquis has taken place, with the Commission explaining to Ukraine what it entails, the bilateral screening will only start in the coming weeks, according to a Commission spokesperson.
“This is a historic day for Ukraine and the EU,” the Belgian foreign minister said. “The accession negotiations we open today will be rigorous and demanding. With determination and commitment, we are confident that Ukraine can bring them to a successful conclusion. The future of Ukraine and its citizens lies within the European Union.”
In her introductory statement at the conference, she reminded that Ukraine has been a close partner to the EU for years, starting with the Eastern Partnership in 2009 and continuing with the Association Agreement. This agreement, which also includes the far-reaching Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, entered into force in 2017.
She reiterated EU’s “resolute condemnation of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and saluted the resilience of the Ukrainian people. The EU recalls its unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and its inherent right of self-defence against Russia’s war of aggression.”
High Representative Josep Borrell referred to the IGC at his press remarks after the foreign affairs council meeting on Monday and described EU accession and membership as “the ultimate security guarantee”, indirectly referring to the mutual defence clause (Article 42(7)) of the Treaty on European Union.
The clause provides that if a member state is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other member states have an obligation to aid and assist it by all the means in their power. Peter Stano, EU’s lead spokesperson for foreign affairs, explained that he meant that “the best protection is when a country is a member state, since the EU membership protects you against aggressions and attacks”.
Describing the enlargement process as a geo-strategic investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity, Hadja Lahbib assured that its transformative impact on Ukraine will be seen already now long before the date of accession. “It is a driver for improving the economic and social conditions of our citizens, reducing disparities between countries, and must foster the values on which the Union is founded.”
As a candidate country, Ukraine will benefit from the participation in a large number of EU programmes, including Horizon Europe, EURATOM Research and Training Programme, Digital Europe, Fiscalis, Customs, Creative Europe, EU4Health, LIFE, Single Market Programme, Union Civil Protection Mechanism, and Connecting Europe Facility. This was not the case in previous enlargement rounds.
She also cautioned that, “The Council reaffirms the need for fair and rigorous conditionality, the principle of own merits and reversibility” and “stresses the importance of ensuring that the EU can maintain and deepen its own development, including its capacity to integrate new members.”
At the General Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday, the Belgian EU Presidency issued a progress report on the Future of Europe. According to the report, member states considered that work on internal reforms should examine all relevant EU policies, including those most likely to be impacted by enlargement. The internal reform process should take place in parallel to the enlargement process.
The Negotiating Framework also states “that the pace of accessions must take into account the Union's capacity to absorb new members, which is an important consideration in the general interest of both the Union and Ukraine.”
The Framework does not include any time schedule. The works starts with the Commission undertaking a formal process of screening the acquis, in order to inform the authorities of Ukraine of acquis developments, to assess the state of preparation of Ukraine for opening negotiations in specific areas and to obtain preliminary indications of the issues that will most likely come up in the negotiations.
The screening process will be carried out by clusters, and will result in proposed opening benchmarks identifying key reforms for the cluster as a whole. Decisions on opening and closing benchmarks (and opening and closing acquis chapters) are taken by the Council, acting by unanimity on a proposal of the Commission. At worst, one member state can derail the accession process.
Negotiations on the fundamentals’ cluster will be opened first and closed last. This cluster includes Judiciary and fundamental rights (chapter 23), Justice, Freedom and Security (chapter 24), Economic criteria, Functioning of democratic institutions, Public administration reform, Public procurement (chapter 5), Statistics (chapter 18) and Financial control/external audit (chapter 32).
Ukraine will be invited to prepare and adopt а roadmap for the functioning of democratic institutions as well as a roadmap for public administration reform, on which the Commission will provide guidance in the screening reports.
Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi indicated that there is no deadline for accession but expected that it will take place before 2030 and the end of the mandate of next Commission if all conditions are met. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna was more optimistic and not afraid of EU’s internal reforms. “No challenge is bigger than the war but we are ready to mobilise all our energy for all reforms.”
She also cautioned the EU that accession does not imply that Ukraine will necessarily gain full access to its internal market from the very start.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
