Ukraine says failure to start EU membership talks with Kyiv will have ‘devastating consequences’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine on Monday said that the EU’s failure to start membership talks with Kyiv during the upcoming European Council meeting later this week will have “devastating consequences.”

“I cannot imagine, I don’t even want to talk about the devastating consequences that will occur should the Council fail to make this decision, not only with regards to Ukraine but in the broader sense on the issue of enlargement as a whole,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters ahead of a EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.

Recalling certain legislation adopted by the Ukrainian parliament over the past week, taking into account assessments made by the Council of Europe and its bodies, Kuleba said that he came to Brussels with “a clear message of Ukraine's commitment to do its homework to open accession talks and move towards membership in the EU.”

“We also expect the European Union to make a decision that will appreciate the efforts made by Ukraine and grant to my country the opening of the accession talks,” he said.

Kuleba also announced that he will hold his first in-person meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, saying that talks are being held between their countries.

“Ukraine changed its legislation on education and the use of the language of national minorities in the way Hungary wanted it to be changed. And this fact must be respected," Kuleba added.

Earlier this month, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the European Commission wants to force Ukraine’s EU accession “down our throats” without assessing the consequences it will have on the bloc.

The European Council will consider opening accession talks with Ukraine in a meeting in Brussels on Dec. 14-15, a month after the European Commission recommended the Council to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova.