Ukraine Starts EU Membership Talks     06/16 06:15

   

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union 
membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government 
to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights a Russian invasion.

   Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka took part in an 
intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg to open talks that will help Kyiv 
align with the 27-member bloc's laws, standards and values.

   "Aggression against Ukraine and threats against Europe is a permanent policy 
of Russia, so that's why we need to be united," Kachka told journalists. 
"That's why we need faster and very comprehensive accession to the European 
Union."

   Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once 
the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military 
alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others 
are wary of it joining while the war continues.

   Moldova also officially launched its membership talks. Russia has long tried 
to keep the country within its orbit, and last year Moscow was accused of 
waging a disinformation campaign driven by artificial intelligence during 
elections.

   EU values and principles are first up

   Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy 
areas, or chapters, from agriculture to taxation and energy to trade, a process 
which can take years.

   Monday's meeting saw the opening of five key chapters -- grouped as 
"clusters" -- that underpin the values and principles on which the bloc was 
founded, notably the rule of law, fundamental rights and the functioning of 
democratic institutions.

   The chapters are judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and 
security, public procurement, and statistics and financial control. The cluster 
is important for some EU countries that worry about Ukraine's ability and 
willingness to fight corruption.

   Last month, two national agencies fighting corruption named Ukrainian 
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's former chief of staff as an official suspect in 
a major graft investigation, but they said the Ukrainian leader was not under 
suspicion.

   Some countries want Ukraine to join quickly

   Some European countries have pushed to get Ukraine in the bloc as quickly as 
possible. They see Ukraine as vital to Europe's security and have helped 
bolster its armed forces.

   Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged his EU partners to 
consider offering Ukraine "associate membership" to help breathe new life into 
talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia.

   Other countries -- France and the Netherlands among them -- have suggested 
work-arounds to bring Ukraine into the fold more quickly but without the rights 
of full membership.

   But EU officials, and other countries waiting in line to join the bloc, 
insist that it should be a merits-based process that leads to nothing less than 
full membership.

   Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said that completing the full 
reform process is vital, and that membership is not simply about securing a 
"club card for the EU."

   What Ukrainians "truly are after is freedom, democracy and a transparent 
market economy without any corruption," she told journalists in Luxembourg.

   Hungary had long blocked Ukraine's prospects

   Ukraine's accession process was long stymied by Hungary under stridently 
nationalist former Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, who was considered Russia's 
strongest ally in Europe and a possible threat to the EU project. He lost an 
election this year.

   Orbn routinely exploited voting rules that require all 27 member countries 
to agree on certain rules, sanctions and even political statements. Indeed, 
unanimous agreement is required for each negotiating chapter to be opened, and 
then again for it to be closed.

   The European Commission froze billions of euros in funds for Hungary in 
response to democratic backsliding led by Orbn, and concern lingers about the 
damage that can be done when one unhappy government insists on wielding its 
veto.

   "We need to be very cautious in the future and make sure that these are 
countries that really want to be a part of Europe, and a part of the European 
Union, and are willing to work with us," Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer 
Stenergard said.

   "In order for the EU to be really strong, we need to make sure that this 
doesn't happen again," she said.