EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and 15 other Commissioners arrived in Kyiv on Thursday morning for talks with the Ukrainian government. “We are here together to show that the EU is as committed to Ukraine as ever,” von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
A photo showed her after arriving on the night train. Topics of the deliberations should be in particular further possibilities for support and the EU accession prospects for the country attacked by Russia.
Der Leyen’s trip to Ukraine is her fourth since Russia invaded the country in February last year. However, it is the first time that the former German defense minister is accompanied by several commissioners. The highlight of the trip is to be an EU-Ukraine summit on Friday. EU Council President Charles Michel is also expected to attend, but not the heads of state and government of the 27 member states.
EU sees progress in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address to his compatriots that he expected decisions by EU partners that corresponded to the obvious progress made with reforms. He was referring to the fact that the EU admitted Ukraine to the list of candidate countries last June, but made the start of negotiations on accession conditional on the fulfillment of seven conditions.
These are about the selection process for Ukrainian constitutional judges and a stronger fight against corruption – especially at a high level. The EU is also demanding that standards in the fight against money laundering be observed and a law against the excessive influence of oligarchs be implemented.
The EU Commission recently said that Ukraine had made progress, but that an official recommendation for the start of accession negotiations would probably not be made until the second half of the year at the earliest. “We have registered reform momentum, but there is still work to be done,” said a senior official in Brussels on Tuesday.
More soldiers are to be trained in the EU
The talks in Kyiv will therefore also deal with further necessary progress, for example in the fight against corruption and possible EU support. Further topics will be the dismantling of trade barriers, humanitarian and military aid and the planned admission of Ukraine to the EU roaming area. The latter would mean that Ukrainians could use their mobile devices to make calls, text messages and use data services within the EU without having to fear additional costs. Likewise, this would apply to EU citizens in Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted on Thursday morning that he would continue to stand by Ukraine to win the war and rebuild the country. Among other things, he wanted to announce a significant expansion of the current EU training mission for the Ukrainian armed forces in the Ukrainian capital. The new goal is to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers in EU countries, several EU officials said in Brussels on Wednesday. So far, the goal has been to train around 15,000 soldiers.
According to the EU Commission, in addition to von der Leyen and Borrell, the Vice Presidents Margrethe Vestager, Valdis Dombrovskis, Vera Jourova and Margaritis Schinas were part of the EU delegation in Kyiv.
