Ukraine takes step towards EU membership as European Commission backs negotiations to begin

‘Completing our Union is the call of history,’ says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as she says formal talks will be launched once Kyiv satisfies a few remaining conditions

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has praised as a "historic step" a recommendation to begin formal EU membership negotiations as Kyiv fights off Russia's invasion.

The recommendation by the European Commission is an important milestone on Ukraine's road to Western integration. The Commission said the talks should formally be launched once Kyiv satisfies the remaining conditions related to reining in corruption, adopting a law on lobbying in line with EU standards and strengthening national minority safeguards.

"This is a strong and historic step that paves the way to a stronger EU with Ukraine as its member," Mr Zelensky said on social media, vowing to press on with the necessary reforms.

The 27 national EU leaders are due to make a decision in mid-December on whether to accept the Commission's recommendation. Any such decision requires unanimity of the bloc's 27 members, with Hungary seen as the main potential obstacle.

If accepted, EU officials expect formal accession talks with Kyiv to start next year. Such negotiations take years before candidates meet extensive legal and economic criteria to join. The bloc is also wary of taking in a country at war.

"Completing our Union is the call of history," said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen "Completing our Union also has a strong economic and geopolitical logic. Past enlargements have shown the enormous benefits both for the accession countries and the EU. We all win."

"Ukraine continues to face tremendous hardship and tragedy provoked by Russia's war of aggression," Ms von der Leyen added. "And yet, the Ukrainians are deeply reforming their country, even as they are fighting a war that is existential for them."

Her Commission's report on Wednesday showed that Kyiv met four out of seven conditions to start formal accession talks, though more were near completion. Ms von der Leyen said the Brussels-based Commission would reassess progress next March.

A top aide to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said Budapest would not support Ukraine's EU integration unless Kyiv changes its laws on minorities, in particular as regards education.

Still, advancing Western integration is a top priority for Ukraine at a time of growing fatigue with the war and concerns swirling over the future of vital US military aid.

Also on Wednesday, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine has a plan to continue fighting against Russian forces despite the difficulty of its ongoing counteroffensive. The president said Ukrainian forces would still try to deliver a result on the battlefield this year, and that he was sure they would be successful. It came as the country’s military spy agency claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russia-backed legislator with a car bomb in the Russian-occupied eastern city of Luhansk, an operation it said it had conducted with local resistance forces.

Mikhail Filiponenko, a politician in a Russia-installed local assembly, had been active in Luhansk’s pro-Russian separatist movement since 2014. He had served as one of the top commanders in the army of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic.

The agency said Mr Filiponenko was eliminated in an early morning explosion. He died at the site, it added on Telegram.

Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions Russia claims to have annexed since the start of its invasion, something Kyiv and its western allies strongly reject.

Back in Brussels, the European Commission also recommended membership talks for Moldova, a small neighbour of Ukraine that is struggling with its own tensions with Moscow.

"Moldova is firmly on the path for EU membership and we will continue working relentlessly towards this goal," the country's president, Maia Sandu, said in welcoming the move.

Brussels further said Georgia should receive the status of a membership candidate once it meets outstanding conditions, including Tbilisi aligning with the EU sanctions against Russia for waging its war against Ukraine.

EU officials see the Georgian government as more inclined towards doing business with Moscow but they say Georgian society is strongly pro-European.

The Commission said the EU should also begin membership talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina once a long list of extensive conditions are met.

That is seen as a tall order as EU countries are split on Sarajevo with Austria, Slovenia and Croatia in favour of bringing it closer to the bloc but the Netherlands leading a camp highlighting democratic backsliding in Bosnia.

Reuters