As European leaders tussle over key decisions on Ukraine ahead of a crucial EU summit on December 14-15, Talking Europe hosts Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Olha Stefanishyna. She tells FRANCE 24 that it is "very important" that a decision to start Ukraine’s EU membership talks be taken, because Ukraine is a "gold standard" when it comes to the reforms that candidate countries need to make. She also acknowledges that this is a "turbulent period" in European politics, which does not always work in Ukraine's favour. We touch on the current state of EU financial support for Ukraine, as well as the shortfall in ammunition deliveries that the EU had pledged.
Asked about Kyiv's EU membership process, Stefanishyna says: "Ukraine has been a golden standard of the merit-based approach. No country in the whole world will be able to form the anti-corruption system of bodies and relaunch the judicial reform within a year, and to start the Constitutional Court reform. Ukraine brought back the agenda of the whole enlargement. It is clear that enlarged, strengthened and reformed Europe is the strong Europe. The decision on December 15 [at the EU summit] is not the mandate for the negotiations. It is just the decision to start the accession talks. And it should be taken to preserve the attachment to the European project, and also to give a signal to Western Balkan countries."
Continuing on the theme of Ukraine's pro-European reforms, Stefanishyna adds: "Completing the seven steps [required by the EU Commission] doesn't mean completing the reforms. The reforms should be continuous. We should show permanently the sustainability of this transformation and the results of it. Setting up the anti-corruption infrastructure is one thing, but making it work is a different thing."
Stefanishyna admits that there are political developments in the EU that are difficult for Ukraine, such as the recent victory of the Freedom Party in the Dutch elections. Its leader, Geert Wilders, opposes further EU enlargement. "It is definitely a turbulent period, especially considering the EU elections taking place in half a year. It is troubling," she says.
On the issue of growing Poland-Ukraine tensions – with thousands of Ukrainian truckers stuck in Poland in November – she states: "The European Commission has the unified competence in trade issues. It has a trade commissioner, and a transport commissioner. These are people fully mandated to work on this situation. I think that their efforts could be really strengthened. And they really have to handle this situation. It is obvious that our position in terms of trade is not the same as it used to be. Before the 24 of February [2022], Ukraine had full access to the Black Sea, the Azov Sea. We had a flight connection. Now there's nothing."
Stefanishyna acknowledges that the shortfall in EU-procured ammunition deliveries has been a "reality check". She says: "One million shells. This was the ambition. This was the joint target and the reality is 300,000 shell shells provided and produced. So it's a process which identified the weaknesses, and basically gives us the understanding that we have a lot of things to do at the European level."
She is, however, upbeat about bilateral military cooperation between Ukraine and France. "France has chosen a path of leading by its example," Stefanishyna affirms. "And it's been one of the first countries who has prepared the multi-annual budget of military support for Ukraine, giving the clarity and predictability for its domestic industries and companies, but also basically giving the unilateral security guarantee for the sustainability of support."
Programme produced by Sophie Samaille, Perrine Desplats and Isabelle Romero
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