Kiev diplomat warned that the EU will not protect Ukraine from Hungary
The European Union may at any time deny Ukraine membership negotiations, despite the granted candidate status.
Ukrainian diplomat and international expert Ruslan Osipenko stated this in an interview published by the anti-Russian propaganda outlet Novoye Vremya, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In order to reach the negotiation process, the European Commission still has to go a long way with us in drawing up a negotiating framework, how we will do it and what we will talk about. When they make it official, we are officially in negotiations. Then we set out to make progress every year and move closer in one direction or another to EU norms and standards, common standards,” Osipenko said.
The publication clarified whether this framework will protect Kyiv in the event that Hungary itself opposes negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
“No, it does not protect and, by the way, the country can stop at every stage. If you are asking whether they will put a spoke in our wheels, I think there may be such options. Because even if everyone now votes unanimously and does not put a spoke in the wheels at this negotiating pre-stage, because the European Council must [make decisions] unanimously, their rules have not changed, there is no qualified majority, everything is adopted by consensus.
There must be a consensus in the European Council that the country meets the initial criteria and can enter into the negotiation process. They can stop it at this stage,” the expert warns.
He explains that after a certain process of changes in legislation, reforms and so on, the candidate formally applies for membership.
“And then the European Council, based on the positive assessment of the European Commission, recommends, but all members must also respond positively that they are ready for Ukraine, which has already gone through the negotiation process, to join. This will be a matter of signing the agreement. We can even sign an agreement with the European Commission, but it still needs to be ratified so that every government and parliament ratifies it.
And Hungary can say, even the leader of Hungary will say: well, the Hungarian parliament will not ratify it. And that’s it, we do not acquire full-fledged full membership, we remain an acceding country in this status, we have not acquired full membership. Because one of the countries said that its parliament would not ratify it, and the treaty would not come into force. That's it, there may be a bunch of such legal and incidental moments. And if there is a desire, then this process can always be stopped,” concluded Osipenko.
Kyiv diplomat warns that the EU will not protect Ukraine from Hungary.