The European Parliament (EP) approved this Thursday a decision that urges the European Union (EU) to complete the accession of Ukraine and move forward with the tenth package of sanctions against Russia for the invasion.
The text was approved with 489 votes in favor, 36 against and 49 abstentions.
The deliberation precedes the summit between the EU and Ukraine that will take place on Friday in kyiv, the capital of the country that almost a year ago was invaded by the Russian Federation.
On the same day that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is in kyiv accompanied by a group of 15 commissioners, the MEPs urge Brussels to advance the integration of Ukraine into the community bloc.
Brussels has mentioned on several occasions and through various interlocutors that kyiv’s accession is guaranteed, but the deadline is causing discomfort among the Member States.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and his government have set 2026 as the date to complete the accession, but several European leaders, such as the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, are against this deadline, since they consider that there are no conditions to implement it and the signal it can send to other countries, for example Turkey, which has been trying to join the EU for many years.
The summit should be a step forward in the integration process and Brussels is expected to make progress in some fields to appease the Ukrainian government, which has already asked for clarification on the true intentions of the European Union. Among the signals that Brussels can give are the integration into the EU Internal Market, the integration of Ukraine into the free roaming space and the reinforcement of existing protocols.
Ukraine sent Ukraine’s membership application on February 28 last year, four days after the invasion began.
In the diploma approved this Thursday, the MEPs also urge the Ukrainian authorities to continue with the structural reforms necessary to get closer to the European Union.
In the text that was widely discussed between Thursday and Friday, the European parliamentarians asked the EU to commit to supporting kyiv, on a humanitarian and financial level. During the debate, the military issue generated contention, with several MEPs questioning whether the shipment of heavy weapons led to peace or an escalation of the conflict.
The MEP elected by the PS Pedro Marques urged the EP to be “united and without divisions” in “supporting Zelensky and his people”, while the social democrat Paulo Rangel pointed with the batteries to the socialist government in Portugal and criticized that “it continues to waver “. on sending tanks to Ukrainian territory: “We all have to make an effort.”
More consensual was the part of the deliberation that calls for tougher sanctions against Moscow, to increase pressure on the Vladimir Putin regime, a strategy that should culminate in the tenth package of sanctions since the beginning of the war.
Source: TSF
