Brussels \u2013 The start of Ukraine\u2019s accession negotiations in June is a distinct possibility. The appointment of an EU chief negotiator for the peace talks, however, is to be postponed until a later date. On the delicate Ukraine dossier, the European Union continues to reflect and buy time, which does not necessarily mean wasting it. Brussels sees a Russia that shows little genuine willingness to engage in dialogue, and this weighs on the EU\u201127\u2019s decision\u2011making process, leaving them genuinely uncertain about how to proceed.<\/p>\n
The informal foreign ministers meeting (Gymnich<\/a>) is an opportunity to highlight the limitations of an EU that is still debating who should represent it at future negotiating tables. No one is naming names, starting with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas<\/strong>: \u201cI think this is a trap Russia wants to lure us into: discussing who will talk to them, while they are already deciding who is suitable and who is not. Let\u2019s not fall into this trap. Negotiations are always a team effort,” she said on the sidelines of the proceedings. “The substance is more important than the negotiator.<\/strong>” According to Latvia\u2019s Foreign Minister, Artjoms Ursulskis<\/strong>, this means that “we must be ready to provide guidance<\/strong>” to whoever represents the EU. We must therefore first establish the mandate, and then the person to carry it out. For the Estonian Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahkna<\/strong>, the conditions to be imposed on the future EU negotiator are as follows: \u201cUkraine\u2019s accession to NATO, because there can no longer be neutral or buffer zones between Europe and Russia in the future, and the territorial integrity\u201d of Ukraine. All conditions that are difficult for Moscow to accept.<\/p>\n In any case, Estonia is not committing to any names, and Spain is following suit<\/strong>: “We must speak with one voice, rather than having just one person<\/strong>” at the table, Madrid\u2019s Foreign Minister, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares, <\/strong>argues. Lithuania is closing every door: “This is not the time to discuss names, it is time to put more pressure on Russia,<\/strong>” says Lithuania\u2019s Foreign Minister, Kestutis Budrys<\/strong>, who urges the finalisation of the 21st sanctions package against Moscow, including a ban on all maritime services and sanctions against Rosatom and Lukoil, Russia\u2019s nuclear and oil giants. <\/p>\n Adding to this complex discussion is Xavier Bettel<\/strong>. According to Luxembourg\u2019s Foreign Minister, one could also envisage \u201ca trio\u201d rather than a single name. He suggests \u201ca former politician,, because in this way the person, or persons, would face \u201cless political pressure\u201d and have the chance to work more effectively without the burden of having to think about future votes, and so Jean-Claude Juncker<\/strong>, former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission, enters the fray: “I think he\u2019s a good choice, he has the connections<\/strong>…,” Bettel said.<\/p>\n Given the complexity of the issue, it cannot be ruled out that the deadlock may be resolved at the level of heads of state and government at the European Council summit on 18 and 19 June. But June could instead prove more decisive for Ukraine\u2019s path to EU membership. The number of Member States in favour of opening the negotiation chapters for Kyiv in June is growing: the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) are calling for it, while Romania, Cyprus, Luxembourg, and even Italy<\/strong> support it: “The government is in favour of Ukraine\u2019s accession; now we must examine at the European level what is the best way forward,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n The key sticking point in the accession debate is the procedure: there is no agreement on how many negotiating chapters to open \u2013 whether just a few or all of them \u2013 or whether, instead, to envisage an association that in some way precedes full membership, a compromise solution proposed by Germany<\/a>. This is a possibility that Latvia is open to, though Ursulskis makes it clear: \u201cAlternative models must not call into question Ukraine\u2019s EU membership.\u201d Meanwhile, Tajani sets out Italy\u2019s red lines<\/strong>: \u201cWe must continue to work for Kyiv without, however, forgetting the Balkans: the time is ripe for the accession of Montenegro and Albania<\/a><\/strong>, which is a priority for the stability of the region and the growth of the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The informal foreign ministers meeting has, however, revealed differing views among the 27 member states, which are far from agreeing on a shared strategy regarding the terms of Kyiv\u2019s accession and the peace envoy: the 12-star club remains deeply divided<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":455059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26005,27334,34259,31741,33830,26403,33394,30781],"class_list":["post-455072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-antonio-tajani-en-2","tag-enlargement","tag-inviato-speciale","tag-jean-claude-juncker-en-2","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-war-russia-in-ukraine-en","tag-ue","tag-ukraine-in-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455073,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455072\/revisions\/455073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}