Get up-to-date information on the important news from Central and Eastern Europe, led by news this week that both Ukraine and Moldova have begun negotiations on EU membership.
Russia’s war against Ukraine
The European Union began accession talks with Ukraine on Tuesday, a decade after Russian troops occupied the Crimean peninsula to prevent the country from moving closer to the West.
Ukraine’s accession negotiations were launched at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg. Just a few hours later Moldova has also started its accession negotiations. These events are an important milestone on the road to Europe, but it could still take years for the talks to be concluded.
In his opening speech transmitted via video link, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal described the day as “a historic day” that marks “a new chapter” in his country’s relations with the Union, especially given the ongoing threat of war with Russia.
“We are fully aware that there is still a lot of work ahead of us on the road to accession. We are ready for it. We have shown that we can move forward quickly and achieve the impossible,” Shmyhal said.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Brussels to sign a series of security agreements between the EU and Ukraine and ask for more military support.
The agreements are not mutual defense pacts. They essentially summarize what the 27-nation bloc has done in the form of financial, military and other assistance to the country since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.
Several countries have already signed similar agreements with Ukraine that include a long-term commitment to help Kyiv even after the war with Russia is over. Zelensky and US President Joe Biden signed such a pact earlier this month that will last for the next decade.
The Ukrainian president also called on European Union leaders to make good on their pledges to supply military equipment to his war-torn country, just days after the Union began accession talks with his government.
“We need to work on the next steps,” he told reporters in Brussels. “The most urgent things – air defense is one of them.”
What is less pleasing, however, is that the EU will be reimposing tariffs on Ukrainian sugar and egg imports from today, thereby resorting to an “emergency brake” to appease farmers who protested across the Union earlier this year.
The move comes just two days after the bloc began accession talks with Kyiv, whose forces are waging a war of aggression against Russia.
Last week, tariffs of 89 euros per tonne of Ukrainian oats were reinstated. They will apply until June 2025. A similar decision on eggs and sugar is expected on Friday, two people familiar with the matter say.
The reinstatement of tariffs underlines how difficult Kyiv’s accession negotiations will be. Ukraine is an agricultural superpower that can produce food more cheaply than EU member states and yet would be the main beneficiary of agricultural subsidies – a position currently held by France.
Poland and the Baltic states this week called on the European Union to strengthen its eastern border and warned in a joint letter to Brussels of an “imminent threat” from Russia and Belarus.
The four EU members are staunch allies of Ukraine, which has been battling a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years.
They are sharp critics of Moscow and accuse the country of orchestrating hybrid attacks, including “intimidation, exploitation of migrants, sabotage, disinformation, manipulation and interference with foreign information (and) cyber attacks.”
In their letter, which was seen by the AFP news agency on Thursday, the heads of state and government of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania called on the 27 EU states to “spend more money on defence and coordinate these initiatives within the EU and with NATO”.
“The development of a defence infrastructure system along the EU’s external border with Russia and Belarus will meet the urgent need to protect the EU from military and hybrid threats,” they said.
More news from the region
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a fierce critic of Russia, was officially nominated this week as the next European Union foreign policy chief, one of Europe’s three most powerful and influential political posts. The nomination, long in the works and now subject to approval by the European Parliament, was confirmed at this week’s European Council meeting. Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, was nominated as president of the European Commission, while Portugal’s António Costa will take over the presidency of the European Council.
The eastern expansion of the European single currency suffered a setback this week after Bulgaria And Romania has not met the economic criteria for adopting the euro. The decision by the European Central Bank and the European Commission on Wednesday means that Bulgaria’s ambitions to join the eurozone early next year will be dashed. Their review also confirmed that Romania’s hopes of euro membership are as remote as ever. Four other countries assessed, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungarydo not seek Euro membership.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed this week that a planned “mega airport” in central PolandThe Solidarity transport hub (CPK), a flagship project of the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, will be built. The decision ends months of uncertainty over the plans following the change of government in December. However, Tusk also accused PiS of wasteful spending on the project and said the new government would place more emphasis on developing regional rail, road and air infrastructure to make Poland “one big megalopolis”.
The European Union is considering increasing financial support for Georgia if it does not withdraw a new law that critics say restricts press freedom and damages the country’s chances of joining the bloc, the EU’s top diplomat said on Monday. Current EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the 27 countries would consider “ceasing our financial support to the government in Tbilisi” and scaling down political contacts with it. It was not clear how much money would be affected. “This can be done immediately, but we will continue to monitor the situation,” Borrell told reporters.
Georgia’s Parliament on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would impose sweeping restrictions on LGBT rights, including bans on “propaganda” for same-sex relationships and gender reassignment surgery. The package, proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party and which could ban Pride events and public displays of the LGBT rainbow flag, was approved by a majority of MPs. It must go through two more readings before becoming law. Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said the bills were needed to control “LGBT propaganda” which he said was “changing traditional relationships”.
Slovakia Parliament on Thursday approved a package of laws designed to increase security for leading politicians and others following the assassination attempt on populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. The measures, approved by the coalition government on June 12, are set to come into force on July 15 after Fico’s close ally President Peter Pellegrini gave his approval. Fico is currently recovering from being shot in the stomach as he greeted supporters in the town of Handlova on May 15. The attacker has been arrested.
Conservationists accuse government authorities of Azerbaijan of architectural vandalism as the capital Baku prepares to host the annual United Nations climate change conference. The UN meeting of environmentalists will take place in Baku in November. Azerbaijani authorities are already working hard to spruce up the host city. But according to local architects and others, their methods of improving the city’s appearance are doing more harm than good. One architect, Dilgam Ismayilov, has claimed that up to 200 buildings in Baku have been restored using inappropriate techniques and materials.
Legislators in Kyrgyzstan This week, the second and third readings of a law were passed that requires all judges in the Central Asian country to speak Kyrgyz at least at the intermediate B1 level. Individuals without this level are not eligible for the judicial profession. In July 2023, the country’s president, Sadyr Japarov, signed a law requiring all civil servants to be able to speak Kyrgyz for official purposes. Kyrgyz, a Turkic language, is the state language of Kyrgyzstan, while Russian has the status of an official language.
Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with European Council President Charles Michel before a Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday. © European Union.
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