Austrian Minister for EU and the Constitution Karoline Edstadler stated that accession of Ukraine to the EU may not be achieved “in the coming five-ten years”. It is informed by the Ukrainian Pravda newspaper with the reference to Euractiv.
Edstadler made comments on the recent proposal of the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg for Ukraine to consider other ways to access the EU apart from membership. She stated that the full process of Ukraine’s accession will be a “lengthy process of adaptation which cannot, evidently, be reached in the coming five-ten years” since “some countries in the Western Balkans have been waiting for decades their next step.”
She also added that no expedited procedure may be granted for Ukraine.
“Minister of Foreign Affairs also meant to tell this way that you might have to find a creative way how you introduce western values to Ukraine. Evidently, Ukraine heard denial of the EU membership, but it is not what was meant, and it is not the Austrian’s position,” Edstadler said.
Austria is one of few European countries, which refused to supply weapons to Ukraine, although decided to provide humanitarian support to this country.
By now, the country has delivered 10 000 helmets, bulletproof vests, and 100,000 liters of fuel, and transferred to the Red Cross and other NGOs the aid in the amount of 17.5 m euros. The Austrian government also provides 10 m euros of aid to Ukraine from the World Bank.
On the eve, the Prime Minister of Italy called on the EU members to refuse the veto on foreign politics. The crises the European Union faces “require expedition of the process of European integration,” Mario Draghi is confident.