Romania 'stands with Ukraine' in negotiations for EU membership

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Aug 2023 10:40
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Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announces that Bucharest supports negotiations for Ukraine's EU membership.

Balkan leaders and top European Union officials pose for a photo with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyat Maximos Mansion in Athens, Greece, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. (AP)

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared on Monday that Bucharest supported the idea of starting discussions on Ukraine's EU admission in 2023.

"Discussed with [Ukrainian] president [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy about Romania's continuous efforts to support Ukraine. Romania stands with Ukraine till its victory & in the reconstruction. We support the start of the accession negotiations with the EU this year," Ciolacu said in a post on X earlier in the week.

Discussed with president @ZelenskyyUa about Romania's continuous efforts to support Ukraine.
🇷🇴 stands with 🇺🇦 till its victory & in the reconstruction. We support the start of the accession negotiations with the #EU this year.
Romanians in Ukraine have our common support. pic.twitter.com/viPblFgFu5
— Marcel Ciolacu (@CiolacuMarcel) August 21, 2023

Previously, in June 2022, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine an EU candidate status.

In May last year, France's Europe minister, Clement Beaune, reportedly said Ukraine's EU membership was "15 or 20 years" away from being realized. Similarly, German FM Annalena Baerbock, said "Ukrainians ... see a future in Europe, in the EU. The road there will still be long and, of course, sometimes difficult, but we are doing our best to support Ukraine in the process of harmonizing its legal system and standards with EU standards, thereby paving the way for accession."

A year later, in June 2023, the European Commission said that Ukraine had completed two of the seven requirements for launching EU membership discussions, with Kiev promising to implement the other five recommendations as soon as October.

Danish FM: Don't 'lower the bar' to help Ukraine join the EU

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 afterward. 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.

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.