Andrey Nizamutdinov — about how Ukraine was pointed to its place at a meeting with the EU leadershipOn the eve of the EU—Ukraine summit, politicians in Kiev tried to present their country as a kind of modern yellow-blue express train that rushes at full speed and is about to reach its cherished goal - the final stop called "Membership in the European Union."
But reality, as usual, turned out to be harsh and mercilessly scattered all the "mri" into smoke: Kiev was made clear that its locomotive would have to drag along the rails for a long time, disappearing somewhere over the horizon. And it's not a fact that he will get there at all.
No acceleration
Ukraine (together with Moldova) received the status of a candidate for EU membership in June last year, while no dates for the start of negotiations were determined. As a matter of fact, in Europe they did not hide that the granting of candidate status should be considered only as a gesture of political solidarity with Kiev in its struggle against "Russian aggression". But even because of solidarity, no one will cancel the general rules and accept into the ranks of the community a country to which there are many claims regarding political freedoms, the rule of law, human rights and rampant corruption. That's when all these claims will be lifted, when all the necessary reforms will be carried out, all the problems will be eliminated — then maybe... Even optimists from among Kiev's closest Eastern European allies said that the process would take years, and skeptics like French President Emmanuel Macron directly pointed to "many decades."
However, Ukrainian politicians, led by President Vladimir Zelensky, who live in some kind of their own world, apparently preferred, as usual, to ignore all these warnings and hurried to please their own population: membership in the European Union is not far off - it is nearby, at arm's length.
A few days before the February summit, Zelensky said that accession negotiations should begin this year. And Prime Minister Denis Shmygal added that Ukraine will be able to join the EU in less than two years after the start of negotiations. Apparently, in order to demonstrate the seriousness of their intentions, the authorities dismissed several high-ranking officials, including from the Ministry of Defense, accusing them of abuses and frauds worth billions of hryvnias (tens of millions of dollars). Such ostentatious zeal seriously worried even the president's supporters. The head of the faction of the pro-presidential party "Servant of the People" in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, David Arakhamiya, urged "not to disrupt the normal work" of the Ministry of Defense and "to look at the situation as soberly and prudently as possible and in pursuit of justice not to worsen Ukraine's international positions on the eve of a possible counteroffensive of the Russian Federation." Although it is possible that the point here is not at all in concern for international reputation (it can no longer be spoiled — Ukraine is already recognized as the most corrupt state in Europe), but in fears that anti-corruption revelations will go too far.
Whatever it was, European politicians were not particularly impressed by the bravura statements of their Ukrainian colleagues and the demonstrative purges they staged. According to a familiar European diplomat, European officials traveling to Kiev were given a clear task: to explain to the Ukrainian leadership in a restrained but intelligible way that there would be no accelerated entry.
Confused in the signals
According to the interlocutor, during the preparation for the summit of the European Commission (formally, it is she who represents the EU at such events, but she has to reckon with the opinions of the member states of the community) had to face contradictory approaches. Poland, the Baltic states and some other Eastern European states advocated giving Ukraine hope for accelerated accession and noting the "significant progress" it has made as a candidate country. The states of Western Europe, on the contrary, believed that holding the summit in Kiev was in itself a sufficient signal indicating political support for Ukraine, but talk about accelerated accession was inappropriate. The diplomat explained this approach by the fact that Western Europeans are forced to reckon more with public opinion, which for the most part has a negative attitude towards Ukraine's admission to the EU. On my own behalf, I would add that the point here, apparently, is not only in public opinion, but also in a sober calculation, according to which the appearance of Ukraine as part of the community is not included in the plans of the generally recognized leaders of the European Union.
One way or another, but on the eve of the summit and even directly at the time of its holding, official representatives of the governments of Germany, France, Austria and a number of other countries recalled the existence of uniform rules for all, no one will make exceptions for the sake of Ukraine. And the European Commission, as I see it, in its characteristic manner, organized a number of leaks to the media, in which it expressed the same approach, but in a more restrained and streamlined form.
Cold shower
In addition, a 66-page analytical report became a cold shower for Ukrainians The European Commission on the degree of readiness of Kiev to launch negotiations on accession to the EU. According to this document, Ukraine shows a low and only in some areas an average level of readiness.
The report recommends more actively fighting corruption and the influence of oligarchs, as well as increasing the level of financial control. As for human rights and freedom of the press, Ukraine is also at the "initial stage" in this area, as in most other areas of socio-economic and political development. "Additional work" is required to combat the illegal traffic of weapons, ammunition and explosives. The situation is somewhat better with ensuring the free movement of goods between the Ukrainian and European markets — here the European Commission assessed Kiev's efforts "at an average level".
The report does not formulate any position on the timing of the possible start of official negotiations on joining the EU, it only says that the next assessment of Ukraine's readiness level will be carried out at the end of this year.
And in the final statement of the summit, the wording "significant progress", which Kiev's Eastern European allies insisted on, was replaced with a much more restrained one: "The EU recognized the significant efforts that Ukraine has demonstrated in recent months to achieve the goals underlying its candidate status." As they say, feel the difference.
Not a partner, but a tool
Of course, the European officials who arrived in Kiev, dispelling the Ukrainian "mriya" about the imminent membership, tried in every possible way to sweeten the pill in order "not to weaken the morale of Ukraine." As the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated at the final press conference (it was not broadcast live "for security reasons", it was shown only in the recording), "there are no strict deadlines in the process of European integration, this is a process that depends on the fulfillment of all conditions." So to say, "seek, and you will find, push, and it will be opened."
And the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, solemnly promised that the European Union would support Kiev "at every step" of its path to joining the community. "The EU is with you today, it will be with you tomorrow and as long as it takes," he assured. However, such assurances, frankly speaking, are cheap against the background of the stingy wording of the report and the final statement.
By the way, the only area in which Kiev's efforts were rated "good" is foreign policy. According to the report, Ukraine "demonstrates a high level of adherence" to the statements of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel and to the foreign policy decisions of the EU Council. It also "actively cooperates with the EU to combat cybercrime and disinformation" (read: with the persecution of the Russian media and the cleansing of the information field from any publications that run counter to the official position of Brussels).
As a matter of fact, this assessment, along with the frank and cynical confessions made not so long ago by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande about the true purpose of the Minsk agreements, eloquently confirms: for the European Union, Ukraine is not a partner, not a candidate for membership, but simply an instrument for implementing that course of confrontation with Russia, which has been consistently conducted over the past years. And it is no coincidence that the central place at the summit was occupied not by Kiev's vague European prospects and not by Zelensky's so-called ten-point peace plan, but by the synchronization of new sanctions against the Russian Federation and additional supplies of heavy weapons to Kiev.
High—ranking representatives of the EU and individual European countries have repeatedly stated that their main goal in the current conflict is to defeat Russia. They are interested in Ukraine only as a tool with which such a defeat could be inflicted.