German Chancellor Olaf Soltz rejected Kiev’s request for Ukraine’s rapid accession to the European Union, stressing the need to follow the course planned in 2017, with the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
The chancellor also reiterated his opposition to a possible halt to Russia’s energy market, despite pressure from the Baltic states.
“It’s very important that we continue to pursue what we have agreed on in the past,” Soltz said at the informal summit in Versailles, referring to the 2017 Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. “What we need now is ceasefire “.
The German Chancellor also pointed out that with 27 member states the EU would find it difficult to take a unanimous decision anyway, reiterating the issue of abandoning the principle of unanimity on foreign policy issues.
Estonia and Lithuania have expressed opposition to Ukraine’s request, with Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Kalas telling the Süddeutsche Zeitung that in her eyes “there was a moral obligation to allow these people to realize their European dream”. For his part, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stressed that “there is no rapid accession”, while his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bethel assured that he has no fetish with the regulations, but, he added, “there are conditions for a country’s accession”.
Reactions have been provoked by Berlin’s stance on energy supplies from Russia, with Latvia making it clear that it no longer considers Germany’s refusal to suspend imports from Russia to be viable. “I am convinced that we must decide to suspend energy imports from Russia in order to bring (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to the negotiating table and end the war,” said Latvian Prime Minister Kisianis Karins.
Poland and Lithuania have also spoken out in favor of the move, with the aim of depriving the Russian state of its main source of revenue and funding for the war in Ukraine.
However, Olaf Solz said on Monday that “there is currently no other way to ensure Europe’s supply of energy for heating, transport and industry”, while in Versailles he stressed that when looking at sanctions, one looks very carefully at how to persuade Moscow to end the war, but at the same time, how the effects of sanctions will be as small as possible for Europe. “We must continue on this path,” he stressed.
A key theme of the summit was also the EU addressing the economic consequences of the war, with France proposing a program of support similar to that of dealing with the effects of the pandemic. Germany and the Netherlands do not consider it necessary at this time, considering that the entire coronavirus aid package should be used first.
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