A top Ukrainian government official on Wednesday supported European Council chief António Costa’s plan to quickly advance Kyiv’s application for EU membership.
“We really appreciate the initiative of António Costa … it is important for us to be in agreement with all member states on the conditions of admission of Ukraine into the EU,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka.
“We are not asking to review the treaty on unanimity and enlargement,” he added at POLITICO’s Competitive Europe Summit.
Costa has sought backing from EU capitals to overcome Hungary’s veto on potential membership for Ukraine and Moldova, POLITICO reported this week.
Existing rules require all 27 EU member countries to green-light each stage of the accession process, but Costa would like to move from the unanimity rule to qualified majority voting about starting negotiations on individual parts of the process.
Final approval on joining the EU, or successfully completing a stage of negotiations, would still require the support of all EU capitals.
The plan, supported by the European Commission, is set to be discussed in Copenhagen at the leaders’ summit Wednesday. But it’s uncertain if it will succeed given opposition from several other countries besides Hungary, including France, the Netherlands and Greece.
The post Ukraine backs Costa’s plan to pour rocket fuel on EU bid appeared first on Politico.
