Disagreements over the continuation of support of Ukraine during the last meeting of the European Council on 26-27 October were so huge that I would not call them disagreements; they were almost rifts – dividing lines along which new European blocks could form.
However, it should also be noted that these disagreements did not become an obstacle to the adoption of a joint declaration saying that the EU will steadfastly continue to provide diplomatic, military, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine. A consensus was reached regarding the allocation of an additional EUR 50 billion to Ukraine.
As for the meeting of the EU leaders, the following interesting opinions are worth mentioning:
– Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte criticized the increase in the EU budget due to the support of Ukraine. According to him, Brussels should tighten its belt instead of asking EU countries for additional contributions to its multi-year budget. Rutte believes that the right decision would be reprioritizing money within the EU budget.
– The newly appointed Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico expressed his concerns about corruption in Ukraine amid the EU’s plans to allocate further financial aid to Kyiv. Mr Fico described Ukraine as ’one of the most corrupt countries in the world’. He does not plan to support Ukraine with military aid anymore.
– Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that while the EU has a strategy of war, Hungary has a strategy of peace. According to him, the EU’s strategy for the Russian-Ukrainian war has failed, and Ukraine will not win on the battlefield, therefore a ’plan B’ is needed. Orban claimed he saw no reason why Hungary must direct the money of Hungarian taxpayers to the support of Ukraine.
– Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland, stated he does not support the position of his Hungarian and Slovak counterparts, concerning Ukraine, ’but if other countries are expressing such concerns, Poland also supports all efforts directed at the minimization of any corruption risks within the latest aid package for Ukraine’.
As you may know, the European Union has made Ukraine’s membership of the European Union dependent on the fulfillment of a number of requirements. And what is happening today? The EU is rewriting its own rules and principles because it does not dare or cannot abandon its own former promises made to Kyiv in the past, cemented in slogans ’as long as needed’ and ’as long as it takes’.
One key argument should be mentioned why the European Union cannot hold Ukraine accountable for fulfilling any of its commitments.
This time, the weak European leadership holds negotiations not with the consolidated, democratic leaders of the former Eastern bloc, as it happened almost 20 years ago, but with the leaders of war-torn Ukraine, for whom not only their political survival is at stake but also their personal future, in literal sense. That is why Zelenskiy and his entire team cannot do anything else but to run forward, taking preemptive steps. In order to remain in power, they must aggressively march towards Europe and NATO. This is a completely new experience for Brussels bureaucrats, who are simply not used to this style.
Taking this particular point of view into account, I believe that we should not blame European top officials for the fact that they are unable to hold Ukraine accountable for reforms, for the results of the fight against corruption, for ensuring the relevant rights of national minorities, that is, for having the attributes of a democratic state.
We should not blame them, but we can replace them.
European citizens do have the right to ask Brussels’ top diplomats why the EU, which is keeping Ukraine on artificial respiration with its billions of euros and arms supplies, does not require Kyiv to change its attitude.
Financial resources and weapons in exchange for real democratic transition could even become an acceptable starting point for negotiations. And what is happening? The EU provides Ukraine with funds and weapons, but Ukraine does not intend to give anything in return for this enormous help. Such behavior is totally unacceptable.
Sources:
• https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/10/27/orban-opposes-the-eus-50-billion-support-plan-for-ukraine-while-fico-raises-corruption-con
• https://www.politico.eu/article/budget-slovakia-spending-priorities-frugals-debt-funds-hungary-european-commission/
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