On February 3, Kyiv hosted the EU-Ukraine summit, which was attended by President of the European Council Charles Michel, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Head of the EU Foreign Service Josep Borrell.

One of the topics discussed during the talks was the issue of Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

A joint statement issued following the summit stressed that Brussels "supports the further integration of Ukraine into the EU" and recognizes the efforts that Kyiv is making to join the European Union.

At the same time, no forecasts of possible terms for Ukraine's accession to the European Union were made during the summit.

According to Ursula von der Leyen, there are no hard deadlines in the process of Kyiv's accession to the EU.

The course of European integration, she added, will depend on the fulfillment by Kyiv of the conditions necessary for entry.

In particular, “comprehensive and consistent implementation of judicial reforms in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, including the reform of the Constitutional Court and the procedure for selecting politically independent and competent judges into its composition, remains a necessary condition for strengthening the stability of Ukraine and further progress in the cause of enlargement (EU. -

R.T.

)". 

Recall that Ukraine officially received the status of a candidate for the European Union during the EU summit in June 2022.

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  • © Geert Vanden Wijngaert

On February 2, the European Commission published a report on Kyiv's readiness to launch EU accession negotiations, according to which Ukraine is now only at an early stage of preparation for the implementation of EU legislation in the field of financial control.

The EC gave a similar assessment to the results of Kyiv's work in the field of social policy and employment, the fight against climate change, the development of agriculture and rural areas, as well as ensuring the free movement of labor.

A similar situation, according to European officials, has developed in a number of other areas.

Best of all, Kyiv, judging by the estimates of the EC, is doing things in the sphere of foreign policy.

The report says that Ukraine demonstrates a high level of support for EU foreign policy decisions.

Kyiv looks at the prospects for EU membership rather optimistically.

At the end of January, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said in an interview with Politico that his country expects to join the European Union within the next two years.

However, the journalists of the publication note that in the EU itself they do not share Kyiv's optimism and consider such terms unrealistic.

The newspaper, in particular, recalled last year's statement by French President Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv's entry into the European Union could take decades.

On February 3, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on the topic of Ukraine's accession to the EU.

She recalled the words of Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, who in 2021 said that Ukraine was a few light-years away from fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria necessary for joining the European Union.

“This question has already been answered in the European Union itself: “Ukraine is at a distance of“ light years ”from EU membership.”

The other day, this was once again confirmed by the European Commission: "EU membership is a marathon, not a sprint."

As we know, some “athletes” (Turkey, for example) have been running for more than 30 years,” the diplomat recalled.

New package of sanctions

The final document also touched upon the topic of organizing a “tribunal” in relation to the Russian Federation.

“Ukraine stressed that it prefers the option of establishing a special tribunal.

We support the establishment in The Hague of an international center for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine to coordinate efforts to investigate the crime of aggression committed against Ukraine, as well as to preserve and store evidence for future proceedings.

This center will be linked to an already existing joint investigation team supported by Eurojust,” the statement said.

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  • © Ukrainian Presidential Press Office

Russia condemns the attempts of the West to create a "tribunal" and does not consider them legitimate. 

According to Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, “from the point of view of international law, Western countries do not have the right to create an international tribunal.”

“An international organization can initiate the creation of a tribunal, but such decisions are approved only in the UN, since this is the exclusive prerogative of a special commission that is created under the world organization.

But the UN will not make such a decision, since Russia has enough evidence of its own, which is also confirmed by representatives of other countries.

Therefore, the activity of the EU and Ukraine in this direction is just a PR that will end in nothing, ”the analyst said in an interview with RT.

The joint statement adopted at the end of the summit also said that the EU "will intensify efforts to use the frozen assets of Russia to help restore Ukraine, as well as to redress damages in accordance with EU and international law."   

In addition, the European Union promised to continue work on the next sanctions against Russia, and the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced the preparation of a new, tenth package of restrictions.

“We have already adopted nine packages of sanctions, and we will continue to work on more,” Michel said. 

The topic of restrictions was also touched upon at the press conference following the event.

During a conversation with journalists, Ursula von der Leyen said that the tenth package of anti-Russian sanctions would amount to €10 billion. According to her, the new restrictions should close the gaps made in previous restriction packages.

She also confirmed that the adoption of new sanctions will be timed to coincide with the anniversary of the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

"No new announcements"

According to analysts, the EU-Ukraine summit turned out to be a formal event and passed without sensations.

Its participants actually repeated statements that had already been repeatedly heard from the mouths of European and Ukrainian politicians.

“The summit was very predictable.

Each participant performed his maneuver and got what he wanted, ”said Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, in an interview with RT.

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According to him, Brussels needed this event only to “show the unity” of the West with Ukraine.

“They wanted to demonstrate that Europe is not tired of the Ukrainian case, keeps abreast and that the Ukrainian issue is very important for Europe.

It was important for them to show that Brussels supposedly believes in the integration of Ukraine and will support Kyiv in the fight against Russia to the last Ukrainian," Volodymyr Bruter said.

However, in reality, "Ukraine's accession to the EU in the foreseeable future is practically impossible," the analyst believes.

A similar point of view is shared by Vladimir Olenchenko.

“There were no new statements, no specifics about Ukraine's accession to the EU at the summit.

This meeting is more like a form of moral support for Kyiv from Brussels.

The Ukrainian military-political leadership is in a military impasse and is losing its presence of mind.

There is a trend towards the collapse of the Kyiv leadership - recently there have been a number of high-profile resignations.

All this testifies to the degradation of the Ukrainian political and economic system.

Therefore, the summit was supposed to demonstrate the support of the Ukrainian leadership,” the analyst said.

In addition, experts questioned the effectiveness of the new sanctions promised by the EU against the Russian Federation, since, as time has shown, the Europeans themselves suffered more from the restrictive measures introduced by the European Union earlier.

Russia, on the other hand, has not only survived, but is also demonstrating gradual economic growth in the face of sanctions pressure, analysts emphasize. 

“Economic indicators speak best of all about the effectiveness of Western restrictions.

The failure of sanctions pressure is evidenced, for example, by the IMF forecast for 2023, in which the Russian economy is predicted to grow,” Vladimir Olenchenko concluded.