Danish FM: Don't 'lower the bar' to help Ukraine join the EU
Rasmussen says his country supported the EU membership for Ukraine but argues that "geopolitical circumstances" were not a justification for governance reforms.
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Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen arrives for an EU summit at the Europa building in Brussels on October 18, 2018 (AP)
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen warned during an interview with the Financial Times that the European Union would be "importing instability" if its standards are eased to hasten the accession of Ukraine to the bloc.
Rasmussen stated that his country supported the EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and the western Balkans but argued that "geopolitical circumstances" were not a justification for governance reforms.
"If you don’t complete the reform process before you enter, then there could be a risk of slowing down afterwards. And we do not export stability, we risk importing instability. And that’s why it is so important to stress the need of fulfilling the [EU membership] criteria," he indicated.
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Rasmussen claimed that Denmark was open to internal EU reform, which includes more majority voting, to accommodate new member states.
He claimed that he does "not intend to comment on specific countries," but said it was "much easier to complete reforms when you are heading towards a membership than it is if you have already joined."
On the matter of Ukraine, he said that if there were to be any "special treatment", it should be in the form of extra help with full engagement of EU governments to help it meet the standards. The flaw in the past process is that it was too bureaucratic, he pointed out.
"We want to invest and we want to assist and we want to be as positive and help some as possible, but we can’t lower the bar."
Ukraine applied for EU membership on February 28, shortly after Russia launched its military operation. It was followed by Georgia and Moldova, which decided to fast-track the submission of their applications and similarly received the EU questionnaire in mid-April.
During the EU delegation's visit to Kiev on April 8, European Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen handed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a questionnaire to begin Ukraine's accession process.
Von der Leyen emphasized that this questionnaire would lay the groundwork for further discussion on the country's membership.
