Secret paper from Brussels
A journalist, RMF FM in Brussels, obtained a confidential European Commission paper providing guidance for negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership. This is called "negotiation frameworks", a mandate that describes the principles, procedures and organisation of negotiations.
The paper has 14 pages and 31 thematic chapters divided into six clusters. present it will be on the desk of 27 EU ambassadors. Negotiations with Ukraine will be conducted by the EC, but all time the last word will be given to EU countries, which will gotta agree unanimously to close each negotiating chapter.
Speakers of RMF FM in the EC say that the peculiar emphasis in negotiations with Ukraine on compliance with the principles of the regulation of law and fundamental rights is the consequence of experience of the PiS authorities in Poland breaking these rules.
The fresh rules for the associate States' negotiations were adopted by Brussels in 2020 and have already been applied to Albania or North Macedonia. However, any diplomats of countries supporting Ukraine's fast membership see a problem. Rules specified as "democratic institutions" are not enshrined in EU legislation, so it is hard to find how to enforce them.
One EU diplomat wonders in his statements to RMF FM how it will look to decide whether the parliament is to be single-seated or bizbic. He claims that specified cases appear to be rather "philosophical", which may at the same time hold Ukraine's associate negotiations,
Supercluster – first and last
One negotiating area has a peculiar priority. We are talking about the first cluster, called the “Basics”. This is simply a kind of supercluster, and even though it will be negotiated first, it will be closed last. It includes, among another things, issues relating to the judiciary (e.g. the independency of judges, the fight against corruption), fundamental rights (e.g. number rights), democratic institutions (the organisation of power-sharing), or matters related to public administration reform.
The "negotiating frameworks" paper explicitly states that Ukraine's advancement in areas specified as the regulation of law, the protection of number rights and the fight against corruption will affect the pace of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. This means that these issues will be taken into account erstwhile deciding to start and end the various stages of the negotiations. In practice, this may mean delays in negotiations on various areas specified as regional policy, company law, freedom of movement or education and culture.
The area covered by the first cluster will be monitored continuously throughout the negotiations to supply Ukraine with adequate time to implement the essential legal, organization and achievements before the negotiations are concluded.
EU close to awarding agreement #Ukraine military aid of EUR 5 billion
He writes about this "Financial Times", citing 4 sources of close discussion.
According to interviewers, final discussion on the initiative
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— Necroscope (@Necroscope_II) March 12, 2024
In addition, a peculiar procedure is provided for, based on the procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty, which can be applied in the event of a serious and lasting breach of the values on which the Union is based. The Commission may urge suspension of associate States' negotiations or apply sanctions, specified as late negotiations, in case of stagnation or withdrawal in the implementation of the regulation of law reforms. another possible sanctions are the simplification of financial support, although support for civilian society can be maintained.
Overall, the remaining part of the associate States' negotiations will be akin to those in force for erstwhile applicant countries.
