Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ukraine_eu
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#Ukraine_EU: The country needs about $5 billion a month to spend on defense and social spending. The EU has promised to deliver a billion euros or 9 times less than previously promised. Germany rejects the idea of lending money to Ukraine as part of EU joint bonds issued ⤵️
to obtain financing on int. markets for the post-COVID-19 recovery. The frugal features of Germany come to life (again). As winter approaches, others are likely to join the German opposition (Austria and the Netherlands are the usual suspects). Without German approval, the EU ⤵️
cannot lend money to Ukraine, which risks defaulting on $900 million in debts in the fall. Russia is waging a war of attrition in Ukraine on the ground and "at distance" against the EU, which has acknowledged that sanctions are hurting the European (not just Russian) economy.⤵️
#Ukraine_EU: A new controversy is emerging around EU membership. No leader of the EU member states questions Ukraine's well-deserved candidate status (to be confirmed in June). However, Macron, von der Leyen and Baerbock said that⤵️
after Ukraine receives candidate status, a long (perhaps shorter than we think, depending on progress in Ukraine) process of reforms (in parallel with reconstruction) will begin on the way to full EU membership. It's worth recalling that Russia's first aggression in 2014 came⤵️
as a result of pro-EU (signing of the Association Agreement) and anti-Yanukovych/anti-corruption protests. The second aggression in 2022 by the official Kremlin discourse was linked, among other things, to Ukraine's orientation towards NATO (a matter of sovereign choice!).⤵️
#Ukraine_EU: Austrian MFA Schallenberg stated that Ukraine should not be offered EU candidate status. This is the first EU national official to voice his opposition in public before the EU Council in June. The Austrian MFA Schallenberg belongs to⤵️
the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which is part of the EPP political family. It is strange that the leadership of the EPP, including Tusk himself, has not built a unanimous position among the national politicians of the MSs, who will have to approve the opinion⤵️
of the EU Commission on Ukraine's application for membership. This could mean that the Austrian government is also reluctant to EU membership application from Moldova and Georgia. An interesting remark is that, unlike Georgia and Ukraine,⤵️
#Ukraine_EU: Macron has openly questioned the rationality of starting Ukraine's accession procedures now. However, he suggested that Ukraine should not be rejected either. This means that the EU is ready to signal an EU perspective in a veiled or direct way. It is important to ⤵️
note that Macron has positioned himself in favour of a regional perspective (to be translated as the "in package" approach) that includes Moldova and Georgia. He focused on Moldova and opposed abandoning it, stressing the energy vulnerability and the problem of Transnistria ⤵️
(as leverages ins Russia's hands). Macron could not be more explicit in indicating that Moldova and Georgia will receive similar treatment to Ukraine in terms of the EU perspective. ⤵️
#Ukraine_EU: MFA Kuleba has made several harsh (not really diplomatic) comments towards Moldova and Georgia: 1) He said that the two countries want to use the Ukrainian campaigning for EU membership to advance their cases ⤵️
(they want to "join their two cars at a high-speed Ukrainian train heading to Brussels) Kuleba insists that the EU must separate Ukraine's application for the state candidate from those of Moldova and Georgia; 2) Another point on which Kuleba slammed Chisinau and Tbilisi is ⤵️
the policy of not alignment to sanctions against Russia. He expressed his disappointment and stressed that such positions have nothing to do with the association under the "Associated Trio" platform. ⤵️
