Ukraine under attack: European Union leaders dashes Ukraine's membership hopes

 

The European union has dashed Ukraine's hopes of becoming a member of the wealthy bloc anytime soon this clarity came after European union leaders gathered to discuss the war in Ukraine and their response to it the burning questions were how far does the eu go with economic sanctions how quickly do they cut Russian energy imports and whether or not to let Kiev into their Block meeting in the palace of Versailles outside of Paris EU leaders were trading a fine line between their wish to support Ukraine and not get sucked into a war with nuclear-armed Russia speaking to reporters before the meeting french president Emmanuel macron's message to Ukraine seem to be no membership now but never say never Discussions Period Is a key opponent of EU enlargement dutch prime minister Margaret said that there was no fast-track procedure to join the Block German chancellor Olav Schultz said that the EU should deepen its partnership with Ukraine rather than speak of membership which he said would require the unanimity of all of the 27 member Countries just before the summit macron and German chancellor Olaf Schultz had spoken to president Putin in a joint phone call demanding for an immediate ceasefire and macron admitted that he does not see a diplomatic solution to the war in the coming few days leaders although also have discussed sanctions do they impose more Latvia's prime minister seemed keen to do so seeing that Ukraine was fighting their fight and that Europe needed to go further in hurting Russia Belgian prime minister Alexander DE cru described the situation as Europe's 911. Russia's invasion has shattered the European security order that had emerged after world war ii and the collapse of the soviet union in 1991. Europe fears that their standoff with Russia will only worsen in the coming years and leaders sought to agree on how quickly they could reduce imports of Russian energy on which is the the block is heavily dependent shore up their defense capabilities and stem the inflation of food prices now young correspondent Ross Cullen is joining us live from Pairs for more on this thank you for being with us now no NATO membership and now no EU membership for Ukraine where does the landscape go from here since it seems like his western allies are unwilling to give him anything but military equipment yes there's no fast-track membership for now but what has been approved by the European union they have agreed to fast-track Ukraine's membership request so they will be working on that request from Kiev to try to join the European union but there will be no suddenly no sudden immediate entry into the European union For Ukraine European union membership is a complicated process is a long process the dutch prime minister who we heard in the introduction did make a reference during this summit to the western Balkans countries like north Macedonia and Albania which at times have been spending years just putting together  their approval and their agreement internally within those countries within Albania and north Macedonia just to show that they could potentially reach candidate status to try to at some point in the future submit a membership request to the European union and then we have these um fast track requests from Georgia from Moldova and From Ukraine as well so it does seem to be there is agreement that there can be a fast track membership request that will be worked on by Brussels but there will be no fast track membership  this immediate entry uh into the block and  just to say that there was a statement released um by the European union leaders at the end of their talks which ended late Thursday night into the early hours of Friday morning so this morning they said that the European council acknowledges the European aspirations and the European choice of Ukraine and we do agree to deepen our partnership to support Ukraine in pursuing its European path Ukraine is a member of our European family and they also said that we commend the people of Ukraine for their courage in defending their country and our shared values of freedom and democracy we will not leave them alone so there is this agreement across all 27 members of the European union that they will continue to support Ukraine politically with humanitarian assistance with material assistance and support them financially that is the key discussions for day two of this summit you said as being held just outside Paris and the resplendent in the sumptuous palace of Versailles for what is meant to be an informal meeting but all 27  leaders the prime ministers presidents and chancellors of the European union are meeting just outside for day two focusing on financial assistance financial sanctions on Russia and assistance to Ukraine after the more politics focused of day one where they Did say there is no immediate accession to the European union for now we need to deepen our partnership with what we have already in place which is a European union Ukraine association agreement and a free trade pact so they did underline and underscore how just how committed they are to Ukraine but as you say no immediate fast-track membership for now right now Russia as you say the EU summit continues today how likely is it that the bloc will Impose further sanctions on Russia the discussions today are going to be led by the head of the European central bank Christine laggard she's going to be speaking also joining the leaders today is the head of the European investment bank and also the head of the euro group so the the Irish finance minister who Runs the meetings who heads up the interests of the countries that use the euro not all members of the European uh union do use the euro 19 of them Do have the single currency and there's going to be a lot of focus on if they can extend expand The multi-billion dollar fund they already have the European peace facility to try to support Ukraine and specifically with what material can be sent militarily because for the first time the European union did last week agreed to be able to send lethal aid to a country at war that is going from Brussels to Ukraine and there needs to be further discussions about if to expand  the fund of money for that also the fund for supporting Ukraine's financial institutions Ukraine's internal institutions with an injection of cash from Brussels there are always with the European union they say they always have on the table the threat and the possibility to go further and deeper in terms of the sanctions they want to continue to impose and continue to discuss further sanctions on Moscow to try to force its hand to try to exert what the what Brussels wants to see as overwhelming pressure on the Kremlin to stop the war to stop the invasion and to withdraw their forces from inside Ukraine they do see the Russia started this war so Russia must take the first step to try to DE-escalate tensions that has to be a ceasefire an end to the invasion followed by an immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces inside Ukraine can they do that with sanctions further Russian banks could be excluded from the messaging system known as swift which allows international financial payments there could be further financial sanctions uh on the table as well one thing that will be discussed but might not be agreed what we saw in the us banning imports of Russian oil and gas that is a key question for the European leaders so much of Europe's energy it does come from the east from Russia and there are countries that are particularly tied into that countries like  Hungary and other European union members in the east of the block so there will be discussions if there is an ability to wean the European union off dependence on Russian energy there will be a reduction rather than an immediate reversal of that because it's going to take many many years to put in place other forms of gas revenue other forms of oil coming in perhaps from the gulf from Saudi Arabia gas as well and of course this push for renewable energy that is not something that is going to happen in the next couple of years that is going to be a long-term strategy if the European union is really going to show that they are committed in countries like France to nuclear in countries like Germany to an expansion of their wind solar and hydro power to try to wean themselves off uh Russian energy needs but yes that's the main discussion for day two at the summit the financial focus can they impose further sanctions on Russia can they expand further assistance to Ukraine.