“Finally close to our goal”
Selenskyj wants to have EU questionnaires filled out quickly
4/9/2022 2:06 am
During her visit to Kyiv, EU Commission President von der Leyen hands over a questionnaire to Ukrainian President Zelensky, which will serve as the basis for talks on accession. This feeds Selenskyj’s hope for a quick trial.
Ukraine wants to answer a European Union questionnaire within a week, which will serve as the basis for accession talks. “Our government will prepare the answers qualitatively and very quickly. I think within a week,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his daily video address.
On Friday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen handed over a questionnaire during her visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, which is intended to form the basis for talks on accession. Kyiv applied for EU membership shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. At the request of the Council of EU States, the EU Commission is currently examining the application.
Joining the EU is a long and complicated process. Even if the EU Commission evaluates the application positively, the start of the admission negotiations could still be a long time coming, since all EU states have to agree. However, von der Leyen promised speed on Friday. Zelenskyj further said that he was sure that the path would be crowned with success. “I am convinced that we are finally close to realizing our long-standing goal.” Ukraine will become part of the European Union, there is no doubt about that.
“We expect a decisive reaction”
After an attack on the train station in Kramatorsk that killed more than 50, Zelenskyy is expecting a decisive response from the international community. “We expect a determined global response to this war crime.” According to Ukrainian sources, 52 people were killed and 109 injured in a rocket attack on the Kramatorsk train station in the east of the country on Friday.
Several thousand people had gathered there, wanting to leave the city for fear of fighting. Kyiv blamed Russia for the incident. Moscow denied any responsibility. Zelenskyy said he appreciated the EU’s willingness to provide the necessary financial and technical support to document and investigate Russian crimes in Ukraine.
However, Selenskyj calls for more far-reaching measures such as a complete embargo on Russian energy sources. “A complete energy embargo must be imposed: on oil, on natural gas.” It is energy exports that account for the lion’s share of Russia’s profits. They also led the Russian leadership to believe that the world would ignore the Russian army’s “war crimes”. The Russian banks would also have to be completely decoupled from the global financial system. “Not some of them, but all, the entire banking system of Russia.”
The EU already imposed an import ban on coal from Russia in the most recent, meanwhile fifth, sanctions package against Russia. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday with a view to the question of whether further import bans will be imposed on Russian oil or gas, for example: “That’s the big elephant in the room.” The topic will be on the table at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday. According to estimates by the Bruegel think tank, the EU currently spends 15 million euros a day on coal, around 400 million euros on gas and 450 million euros on oil from Russia. The federal government rejects an immediate embargo on gas because of the consequences for the economy.