Tag: EUROPEAN UNION

Ukraine wants an immediate invitation to join Nato, with membership later, but in the transatlantic alliance this is widely seen as unrealistic…reports Asian Lite News

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged European leaders to issue an “immediate invitation” to Ukraine to join Nato as he pitched his “victory plan”, which he said would end the war in 2025 at the latest.

Addressing the EU’s 27 leaders at a Brussels summit, Ukraine’s president outlined his five-point plan, which urges allies to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons on military targets inside Ukraine’s occupied territories and Russia, as well as to help increase air defences.

Ukraine wants an immediate invitation to join Nato, with membership later, but in the transatlantic alliance this is widely seen as unrealistic.

“If we start now and follow the victory plan, we can end this war no later than next year,” Zelenskyy told EU leaders. A “deterrence package” on Ukrainian land, he said, “would either force Russia to participate in real peace negotiations, or allow for the destruction of their military targets”.

“Putin must just see that his political calculations are worthless,” he added.

Zelenskyy’s visit comes at a perilous moment for Ukraine, which is steadily losing ground to Russian forces in the eastern Donbas, ahead of a daunting winter that also brings the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.

Speaking to reporters, Zelenskyy described how he gave Trump a detailed account of the 1994 Budapest memorandum signed by Russia, the US and the UK, under which Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed to give up their nuclear arsenals, inherited from the Soviet Union, in exchange for guarantees their sovereignty would be respected “within existing borders”.

In a rhetorical flourish he said Ukraine faced a choice between resuming nuclear weapons and Nato membership, adding: “We are not choosing nuclear weapons, we are choosing Nato, and I think that Donald Trump heard me.”

Zelenskyy declined to give further details of his conversation with the former US president, who has repeatedly claimed he could end the war in a day, without offering any explanation. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has set out a peace deal that would mean Kyiv giving up large swaths of occupied land to Russia.

The Ukrainian leader also said his intelligence services believed 10,000 North Korean soldiers were preparing to join the war on the Russian side, “a really urgent” matter he said he had discussed with the US president, Joe Biden.

Some North Korean officers are already thought to be on occupied territory in Ukraine. Zelenskyy suggested Putin was turning to allies to provide troops because he feared domestic mobilisation would prompt a public backlash.

The Ukrainian discussed the war with the leaders of 27 EU countries, mostly Nato members, before heading to the alliance headquarters to meet the secretary-general, Mark Rutte, and Nato defence ministers. He has already been to Washington, Paris, Berlin, Rome and London to make the case for his plan.

Rutte, who became the top civilian official at the 32-member alliance earlier this month, said he could not say when Ukraine would become a member. Nato’s members, he said, would have to study the plan in detail.

The US and Germany, the two largest donors of military aid to Kyiv, remain opposed to imminent Nato membership, fearing it would put the alliance on a collision course with nuclear-armed Russia. Many other Nato members view the demand for an immediate invitation as unrealistic.

In an attempt to get the US on side, Ukraine is offering, after the war, to replace US soldiers stationed in Europe with Ukrainian units trained to Nato standards. “After this war, Ukraine will have one of the most experienced and largest military contingents,” states the text of Zelenskyy’s peace plan. “By replacing certain US contingent with the Ukrainian contingent, the United States will be able to use its released troops to perform other security tasks outside Europe.”

Ukraine also has an uphill task to convince Germany. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, arriving at the summit, said: “You know Germany’s position on the issues involved. This will not change.”

Zelenskyy also has to contend with Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s Russia-friendly prime minister and a serial disruptor of EU support for Ukraine. Before the summit Orbán described Zelenskyy’s victory plans as “more than frightening” and once again urged the EU to change its approach because “we are losing this war”.

Hungary is the obstacle to US participation in a $50bn international loan, backed by Russia’s frozen assets in the west, to help Ukraine stay financially afloat. Washington has said it will only participate if the EU agreed to extend its Russia sanctions to three years, rather than the current six-month rollovers. Hungary says it cannot make this decision until after the US election.

In an attempt to “Orbán proof” finance for Ukraine, the EU has already agreed to loan €35bn (£29bn), with the UK and Japan expected to make up the rest of the €46bn. But officials would prefer the US to join the plan, reducing the EU’s share of the liability.

Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, urged western allies to support Ukraine to press the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to the negotiating table: “Right now he thinks he is prevailing. He thinks Russia is pushing Ukraine to the corner. And this is the worst moment to start negotiations … because Russia feels to be the stronger side.”

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The prime minister has frequently talked of what he calls a “reset” with the UK’s European neighbours since Labour won the general election…reports Asian Lite News

PM Keir Starmer will head to Brussels for the first time as prime minister next week to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The visit comes as the European Union appears to be willing to compromise with the UK over a new deal to allow more freedom for young people to travel around Europe. The EU’s ambassador in the UK, Pedro Serrano, has suggested a scheme allowing young people to move freely during a gap year – rather than for longer.

However, Starmer has said that the government had “no plans for a youth mobility scheme.”

Serrano has told Times Radio: “If we have a mechanism that allows young British citizens to go out for a gap year, for example, to any – they have a choice of 27 states within the European Union – to do a bit of learning and pay there for their learning while they’re there. Why not? If people want then to stay later for work, it’s a totally different process. This would be limited in time.”

The idea is much more restrictive than some have suggested a youth mobility scheme could look like.

The European Union would like to give its young people the opportunity to travel freely to the UK, in return for young people from the UK being able to do the same in the EU’s 27 member states.

The prime minister has frequently talked of what he calls a “reset” with the UK’s European neighbours since Labour won the general election.

He has visited Germany, France, Italy and Ireland since he came to power in July. But, until now, he hasn’t visited Brussels.

EU officials frequently make clear, both publicly and privately, that any changes to the arrangements between the UK and the EU will have to be negotiated directly with Brussels, rather than with individual capitals.

Brussels sources say they have welcomed Downing Street’s tone in recent months but that won’t on its own unlock any substantial changes in the post-Brexit deal between London and Brussels. The government has ruled out rejoining the EU, or its individual big projects – the single market and the customs union.

Membership of the single market would oblige the UK to accept freedom of movement – where citizens of any members of it can move freely between member countries. Many at Westminster conclude that unlimited immigration from the EU was a motivating factor for many to back leaving the EU in the referendum in 2016.

The prime minister was a passionate supporter of Remain in the referendum and later campaigned for a second referendum. Senior Labour figures are aware that some who backed Leave might be suspicious of the government’s true intentions – and so made their red lines on negotiations with the EU very clear in the election campaign.

The political difficulty of a youth mobility scheme is some would see it as at least a partial return of freedom of movement, for some people, for a fixed period of time. It is also likely, given the EU’s size, that more young people from the continent would come to the UK than vice versa.

EU figures insist it would be nothing of the sort. Serrano said: “There is the fear of migration. It’s a big topic not only in this country but in Europe as well. And we have to see how we’re going to be facing that working together more effectively. But it has nothing to do with the youth mobility scheme.”

The government would like to negotiate a veterinary agreement to remove some border checks, help touring artists travel around Europe and get a deal where the UK and EU recognise the professional qualifications of each other’s people.

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Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to reset relations with the EU since coming to power this summer…reports Asian Lite News

Britain and the European Union must turn their “first steps” to rebuild trust into a “steady walk” as they confront common challenges, the president of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers said on Tuesday.

Addressing representatives of Britain’s financial industry, Paschal Donohoe said his discussions with UK finance minister Rachel Reeves included pensions system reform and unlocking longer-term savings to boost capital markets, as well as the euro zone’s drive for an elusive capital markets union.

“Of course, the UK and EU each have to make their own decisions about how to make progress. However, it is really welcome that we have moved onto a new footing in our relationship which allows us to exchange views on these important topics for our citizens and businesses,” he said.

“More broadly, I strongly welcome the UK Government’s intention to strengthen and deepen relations with the EU,” Donohoe, an Irish government minister, told an audience at the medieval Guildhall, home of the City of London Corporation.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to reset relations with the EU since coming to power this summer, with improved ties at the heart of his efforts to boost Britain’s economic growth.

Donohoe said he welcomed the UK-EU Memorandum of Understanding on Financial Services, signed last year, which enabled meetings of the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum.

In a speech titled ‘Financing Our Future’, the Eurogroup president said progress on a euro zone capital markets union was vital.

“At a time of growing dissatisfaction about the role of market-based solutions and at a time of such widespread budget challenges, making further progress on Capital Markets Union is essential,” he said.

Recent work between member states signalled “a sea change in attitudes and political determination”.

“To play the ‘devil’s advocate’, without a true capital markets union in Europe, I think the green transition as one prime example, is far less likely to happen,” he told the audience in London.

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