Ukraine’s EU accession process is key to security negotiations with Russia
The Lithuania Tribune, March 2, 2022
by Olivier Dupuis and Carmelo Palma
A very bad idea is making the rounds. The idea is conveyed by the ambiguous statements of the High Representative for the Union’s Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. The idea, in substance, is that the EU’s 27 member states would give up negotiations on Kyiv’s accession to the Union in exchange for an end to the war and Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.
It is not that we should be averse to thinking about possible means of saving the face of the Kremlin arsonist, if these might stop the bloodbath that he has provoked. But one cannot pretend to believe that the process of Ukraine’s accession to the Union – process that would otherwise be open-ended and not concluded – might constitute a threat to Russia. Nor that the Russian president himself considers it more threatening than the EU’s heavy economic sanctions and the military assistance provided to Ukraine by the European countries. Lire la suite