EU member states fear Ukraine could become new center of power, says Welt
Some EU member states fear Ukraine's accession to the European Union (Photo:REUTERS/Yves Herman)
Some EU member states fear that Ukraine’s accession to the European Union will shift the balance of power in the bloc to the east, German newspaper Welt reported on Nov. 8.
People in Kyiv are working hard to meet the criteria for joining the bloc, but large member states are hesitating, the article said.
“Not only concerns about corruption and the judicial system are behind this, but also strategic reasoning.”
If Ukraine joins the EU, it will become the fifth largest country in the bloc.
“In the EU Council, where decisions are made by a qualified majority, Kyiv would receive 9% of the votes,” Welt said.
Mykola von Ondarza, an expert on Europe from the SWP think tank in Berlin, calculated that thus, Germany’s weight in the vote would drop from 18.6% to16.9% – a value that Ukraine and Poland together would be able to match.
Even in the European Parliament, in which Kyiv will have from 52 to 59 seats, the reform will be carried out at the expense of larger states.
“Ukraine will become a new center of power and shift the balance of power to the east. They know about it in Kyiv,” the article said.
Previously, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Ukraine has the ambition to fulfill all seven conditions of the European Commission for granting candidate status by the end of 2022 and to proceed to the negotiation process regarding EU membership.
At the summit on June 23, EU leaders supported the granting of candidate status for EU membership to Ukraine and Moldova.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine expects to become a member of the European Union within five years.
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