Austria Says Accelerated Procedure For Joining EU Impossible For Ukraine

Ukraine's accession to the European Union cannot be achieved in the next five to ten years, said Austria’s EU and Constitutional Affairs Minister Karoline Edtstadler. It is reported by Euractiv on Wednesday, May 4.

Edtstadler said the full process of Ukraine joining the EU would be “a long process to adjust to, which certainly cannot be achieved in the next five to ten years,” as “some states in the Western Balkans have been waiting for decades for the next step.” She added that there can be no accelerated procedure for Ukraine, the newspaper reports. So the Minister commented on the words of Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, who suggested that Ukraine consider other ways to approach the EU, in addition to membership.

“What the foreign minister [Schallenberg] also wanted to address with this is that you might also have to be creative in how you introduce Ukraine to Western values,” Edtstadler told news agency APA. “What Ukraine obviously heard was a no to EU membership, which is not what was meant and is not Austria’s position,” she added.

Austria is one of the few European countries that have refused to supply Ukraine with weapons, opting instead to help with humanitarian aid. At the moment, the country has supplied 10,000 helmets, body armor and 100,000 liters of fuel, and also provided the Red Cross and other NGOs with assistance in the amount of EUR 17.5 million. The Austrian government also contributes EUR 10 million to the World Bank's assistance program to Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on April 8, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said that the European Union will consider granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership at the leaders' summit in June.

On April 18, Ukraine sent the first part of the completed questionnaire to the European Commission to assess Ukraine’s ability to obtain the status of a candidate for EU membership, work began on the second part.

On April 22, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko announced that the Ministry of Economy expects Ukraine to become a full-fledged member of the European Union in 2024.