leaders of the European Union (EU) cooled suction Ukraine of joining the bloc “without delay”, already at the beginning of a summit dominated by the military offensive from Russia on ukrainian territory.
This European summit in the Palace of Versailles had originally been planned to focus on economic issues, but the situation at Ukraine became central to the agenda, in particular his request for immediate accession.
“There is no fast track for access. That does not exist,” said the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutteupon arrival at the meeting, in a sentence that set the tone among European leaders.
For his part, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Betelsaid that “we cannot give the Ukrainians the impression that everything can happen in a day”.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macronrecalled that in addition to Ukraine as well Georgia and moldova they presented requests for accession, although he added that “closing the door” to Ukrainian aspirations would be “unfair”.
Europesaid Macron, “it must change, it changed at the expense of the pandemic and it will change even faster and stronger under the impact of the war” in Ukraine.
The pressure exerted by the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyfor immediate accession to the EU exposed obvious divergences in the EU, since the process normally takes several years and can consume up to a decade of negotiations.
The last country to join the EU was Croatia, in 2013, although the negotiations began eight years earlier, in 2005, and the last chapters were sealed in 2011.
The accession process of Turkey It drags on unnoticed for more than two decades, and has been practically paralyzed since 2016.
Also in line to be admitted are Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, which have at least been granted the status of “candidate” countries by the EU.
According to a draft of the final Declaration of the summit, to which AFP had access, the EU leaders point out that the aggression of Russia to Ukraine constitutes “a tectonic shift in the history of Europe”.
energy dependency
The leaders, however, have two more difficult discussions ahead of them, directly linked to the situation in Ukraine during this meeting.
On one side, the leaders of the European countries They must define a course for the strategic reinforcement of their defense, and design alternatives to try to break the dependence that the bloc maintains on Russian hydrocarbons.
The draft negotiated by the European delegations mentions an agreement to “phase out our dependence on gas, oil and coal from Russia” through an ambitious combination of measures.
It is estimated that currently 40% of the natural gas imported by the EU comes from Russia, as well as almost a quarter of all the Petroleum (approximately 23%), and important economies of the bloc such as Germany and Italy They are highly dependent.
This picture explains the European caution in accompanying the gesture of United States and the United Kingdomto block oil imports from Russia.
Despite the urgency of the situation in Ukraine, a source from the European Comission he told reporters that “energy is possibly the top issue on leaders’ heads right now.”
In terms of security, the draft of the Declaration negotiated by the European leaders mentions the need to “invest more and better in defense capabilities and innovative technologies”, and proposes to do so in a “collaborative” manner between the EU countries.
On Friday, the presidents will concentrate on what they call the “new growth and investment model.”
The block economy finally reached its pre-war levels. coronavirus pandemicbut that recovery is now threatened by a scenario of armed conflict.