“A big step forward,” the French president said. But “we have to increase the leg”, the Portuguese prime minister immediately restrained himself. The day that the European leaders approved the attribution of candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, António Costa appeared at the press conference of the European Council more focused on the part of the glass half empty. He pointed out above all the “disillusionment” of the countries of the western balkans who, in the informal summit they held with European leaders, complained about the European slowness in their own processes.
“This disappointment indicates that the attribution of this candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova constitutes a huge responsibility for the European Union not to create false expectations, not to generate frustrations that will be a bitter future in our relationship,” warned the Portuguese prime minister, who has been wary of accelerating Ukraine’s accession process.
The frustration of the Western Balkans is right. When a country that applied 20 years ago and still does not meet the criteria for membership, the failure is not only that country but also the failure of the European institutions that were not able to organize themselves in support of that country to meet those criteria. . ”.
His reservation before an accelerated step in this direction was explained (again) this Wednesday in the debate in Parliament and, this Thursday, after welcoming the approval of Ukraine’s candidate status, Costa returned to the fray. “I insisted on the need to have an institutional and budgetary structure that is up to this responsibility and that the step is not bigger than the leg. We have to increase leg so that the tone is compatible”. As for how to materialize this objective, Costa does not advance and only says that “it has been a long time”: “It is not about announcing anything soon or entering a sprint here. This process will necessarily be long and there is time for the European Union to prepare itself”.
Given the already certain approval of the statute, the important thing that Costa said at this meeting of leaders was “to make it clear that this need [de mudar a arquitetura] is absolutely essential, because the current structure it is not compatible with that desire to expand the European Union”, he argued.
Regarding Ukraine, the prime minister promised that Portugal “will continue to strengthen bilateral cooperation, specifically in technical support for the candidacy”, insisting that the role of the Union “is not only to verify that these candidates meet the requirements to enter to the Union, but also that it can prepare itself to fill requirements to receive them.”
What must be avoided, he repeated, is that in the future the Union “has a meeting with Ukraine or Moldova, like the one it has had today with the countries of the Western Balkans, impatient for the long wait they have faced. Leaving the morning meeting, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar KovacevskyIt was clear in the expression of disappointment: “what is happening now is a serious problem and a serious blow to the credibility of the European Union”, in reference to the blockades to the entry of his country into the European club.
Source: Observadora
