The green light for the twenty-seven Ukrainian candidacy. The Council of Europe also approved Moldova. Clash in the Balkans

“You are part of our European family and the leaders’ decision today confirms that.” Chairman of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen And so it turns into UkraineAnd the Moldova And the Georgia After minutes of white smoke at the top twenty seven who decided to follow up on the recommendations of the executive branch and grant a Kyiv Chisinau put candidate countries to joinunion.

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Ukraine, the green light to run

A more tepid formula for Tbilisi, where heads of state and government reaffirm the “European perspective”, but will receive the green light only after the conditions set by Brussels are met. “It is a historic moment. The future of Ukraine lies within the European Union,” the Kyiv leader beamed on Twitter Volodymyr Zelenskywho spoke at the top like their counterparts in Moldova and Georgia.

I sincerely commend the EU leaders’ decision on #EUCO To grant 🇺🇦 candidate status. It is a unique and historic moment in relations 🇺🇦-🇪🇺. grateful to Tweet embedAnd the Tweet embed And EU leaders for support. The future of Ukraine within the European Union. #EmbraceUkraine https://t.co/o6dJVmTQrn

– Володимир Зеленський (ZelenskyyUa) June 23, 2022

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However, the first step in initiating the Ukraine-Moldova accession process (a process that would take years) faltered in the afternoon and the discussion continued for longer than expected. Slovenia and Austria, in particular, put their feet on the unfavorable handling of the enlargement file that was instead received from the Balkan countries. In the end, a compromise was reached on Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in the approved version of the Summit Outcome Document received an amendment to the ad hoc paragraph, with the Committee, which had hitherto been somewhat skeptical, inviting a report without delay on the progress made by Sarajevo in In light of the possibility of granting the status of a candidate country, a recognition that had been waiting for six years. Like Bosnia, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, they have also been knocking on the door of the European Union for years, but yesterday morning – at the regular summit that brings together the six countries in the region and the 27 countries of the European Union – they saw their prospects for entry, Although the rather recorded race to expand to the east. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “Obviously here we will also have to discuss the need for Europe to really be able to cope with enlargement – now it is about achieving that goal as well, certainly with a larger number of decisions.”

Boomerang
A throwback for the union. So much so that the initially scheduled press conference at the end of the summit was quickly canceled, leaving the scene of the bitter frustration of Belgrade, Tirana and Skopje, with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama speaking with a straight leg: “It is a shame that Bulgaria, one NATO country, is holding two other NATO countries NATO is being held hostage, namely North Macedonia and Albania, in the midst of a war in our own backyard and that the other 26 EU member states remain resolute and helpless.” Referring to the historical dispute over identity that pits the Bulgarians and Macedonians against each other, the former stands so far in the way of starting negotiations with Skopje. The inauguration attempt, which resented the Macedonians nonetheless, was recorded in recent days, as the French presidency of the council ended up finding a compromise now being considered in the Bulgarian parliament. In Sofia, this led to a government crisis.

weapons
However, the commanders chose more nuanced language in the separation of weapons: the conclusions confirm the political commitment to “continue to work quickly in military support” in Kyiv, but the technical and financial way to get there is still being defined. From the text, after decisive pressure among other things by Germany, i.e. a reference to the European Instrument of Peace (Epf, in English acronym), the Union’s supplementary budget appropriations have so far used, in just three months, four €500 million checks to support the purchase of Kyiv Ordnance Materials. However, the Social Security Fund has a grant of “only” 5.7 billion euros until 2027, so much so that governments began to think of alternative financial ways to continue providing military assistance to Ukraine.