The executive director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) Iulian Groza said there are a number of signals showing that a comprise among the 27 leaders of the European Union is being shaped up, but things are yet unpredictable. There are many internal EU factors at stake. Everything will be decided after long talks, even until late Friday evening, IPN reports.
According to him, among those signals is the adjusted agenda of the European Council (EUCO). “Point No. 5 is “Enlargement and reforms”. The second part of the text of this point appeared today. Initially, it was “Enlargement” only. This means that the EUCO’s decision on the opening of negotiations will most probably be tied to progress in doing reforms. So, there will be practically reiterated the European Commission’s recommendation that Ukraine and Moldova should make progress in fulfilling the remaining steps. The editing of the text will be the subject of talks between the EU leaders,” explained Iulian Groza.
The IPRE director drew attention to the fact that on the doorstep before the EUCO on Thursday morning, the Hungarian Premier Victor Orban for about three teams repeated the necessity of fulfilling the seven preconditions formulated by the European Commission last summer. He said that Ukraine didn’t fulfill all the preconditions and the negotiations cannot be opened therefore, clearly underlining the starting line in the talks with the EU leaders at the EUCO. Secondly, the Europe Commission yesterday decided to unlock the over €10 billion for Hungary, which were frozen at the start of the year.
Iulian Groza also made reference to EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders’s statement: “We have received sufficient guarantees to say that independence of the judiciary will be strengthened in Hungary”. So, even if Hungary didn’t fulfill all the preconditions, the European Commission unlocked the funds as “sufficient guarantees” that independence of the judiciary WILL BE strengthened in Hungary appeared. It’s clear that this decision was adopted to partially satisfy Orban’s demands.
According to him, there are preconditions for reaching a compromise and the EUCO will open accession negotiations for Ukraine, Moldova and possibly Bosnia and Herzegovina, on condition that important progress is made in fluffing the remaining preconditions, in Moldova’s case in justice, anticorruption and deoligarchization.
“Meanwhile, the Commission will prepare the draft negotiation framework of the future accession treaty and will initiate the first screening stage. The period will be probably that indicated by the European Commission before the EUCO - March 2024 or until the adoption of the negotiation framework, or until the first meeting of the EU-Moldova Intergovernmental Conference,” said the IPRE director.
The summit of the European Council starts in Brussels today and the agenda includes a number of issues of international importance. The EU leaders will discuss the EU enlargement policy, including the stabilization and association process, and also the next steps in this regard.
