2023-10-02 19:42:00
The EU foreign ministers met on Monday not in Brussels as usual or at a location in the country holding the Council Presidency, but in Kiev. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and the host, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, spoke of a “historic event”. Borrell said followingwards that it was the first council meeting outside the Union with a candidate country, the first council meeting in a country where there was war. The EU foreign policy chief emphasized the “strong signal to Russia” that the EU states continue to support the country as one and want to continue on the path they have taken to Ukraine’s accession.
Borrell announced the meeting around two weeks ago. For security reasons, the exact date remained open. On the agenda was Borrell’s plan to mobilize five billion euros a year from EU funds between 2024 and 2027 to supply weapons such as fighter jets and missiles. This is not a done deal – not only because it was an informal meeting, but also because Hungary recently announced that it wanted to block the outstanding payment of 500 million euros via the European Peace Facility until Kiev lifted sanctions once morest it a Hungarian bank.
Regardless of this, Ukrainian soldiers should continue to be trained in EU countries; there should be a total of 40,000 in the coming months, including fighter jet pilots, confirmed Borrell. For Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (VP), the time is ripe to transform support for Ukraine into “long-term cooperation”. The judiciary must be strengthened and corruption combated. Schallenberg viewed the meeting in Kiev as a “strong signal of solidarity.” The country, which has been defending itself once morest Russia’s war of aggression since February 2022, is currently particularly dependent on this.
Support might crumble
Firstly, because the support of neighboring Slovakia, with its head of government Robert Fico, might soon dwindle. Not only Slovakia’s willingness to help, but also Hungary and Poland’s willingness to help is crumbling – the foreign ministers of both countries did not even make the trip to Kiev. Hungary has long had reservations regarding the EU’s Ukraine policy and the sanctions once morest Russia. And in Poland, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki from the PiS party, who is in the election campaign, was thinking aloud regarding ending arms deliveries to Kiev.
Secondly, there are also negative signs from the USA: On Saturday, in the budget dispute, Congress passed an interim budget until mid-November that does not provide for any further support for Ukraine. Kuleba said on Monday that his country is trying to maintain US aid through talks with Democrats and Republicans. So far the impression is that the commitments are valid.
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