Ukraine officially begins EU accession negotiations – Technologist

Eleven years after the pro-European protests in Maidan Square, in the heart of Kyiv, which led to the exile of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in early 2014, war-torn Ukraine is now firmly on the road to Europe. On Tuesday, June 25, the country officially opened its European Union (EU) accession negotiations at a meeting in Luxembourg. A few hours later, Moldova also opened its own accession negotiations.

“This is a historic result,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted on X. Ukraine applied for membership on February 28, 2022, just days after the start of the Russian invasion. “Until today,” he said on the Ukrainian president’s website, “we were a state that obtained candidate status for membership, but there was still no total certainty… Today, we are fully confident: Ukraine will definitely become a full member of the European Union.”

“This is very good news for the peoples of Ukraine and Moldova, and for the European Union as a whole,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The road ahead will be full of pitfalls, but also full of opportunities. We wish you a successful start to the negotiations!”

At a time when Ukraine is under daily Russian bombardment, particularly of its energy infrastructure, Zelensky, expected in Brussels on Thursday to take part in the summit of European Union heads of state and government, has just enjoyed an encouraging sequence of diplomatic events. In addition to the official opening of accession negotiations, a highly symbolic step, EU foreign ministers have finally unblocked several long-standing issues.

‘Clear message to Russia’

On Monday, they first approved a 14^th package of sanctions against Russia, targeting not only investments in the Russian gas sector but also all the financial, logistical and industrial players who facilitate the circumvention of Western sanctions against the country that attacked Ukraine.

Secondly, the ministers agreed to transfer €1.4 billion of income from Russian assets tied up in Europe to the European Peace Facility, in order to launch purchases of munitions and weapons systems for the Ukrainian army. Furthermore, in the wake of the G7, discussions are progressing to use these undue profits from 2025 onward to cover the interest on a new $50 billion (€46.7 billion) loan to purchase other defense equipment.

On Tuesday, the 27 member states confirmed a European Union “security commitment” to Kyiv, in addition to the security agreements already signed with some 20 Western countries, including the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Under this agreement, Europe will continue to finance the transfer of arms to Kyiv, as well as the training of Ukrainian military personnel.

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