The third country was Austria.
The current government of Austria is not ready to give its consent to Ukraine's accession to the EU in the current conditions.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced this during a session of questions from members of the European Parliament.
According to him, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was not interested in his opinion regarding the European integration prospects of Ukraine before she publicly announced the prospect of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.
Nehammer assured that Austria would not agree to negotiations on Ukraine’s accession under current conditions. In his opinion, there should be no preferences for Kyiv on this issue, especially against the background of the European integration aspirations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
At the same time, Nehammer emphasized that Austria is not an opponent of Ukraine’s accession to the EU, but on the contrary sees this process as an “engine” for reforms in the respective countries. According to him, Ukraine and Moldova should be offered the prospect of joining “as a sign of solidarity.” But the Chancellor was categorically against the accelerated accession procedure for these two states.
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Also during the same series of questions, Nehammer refuted the assertion that European sanctions against Russia only harm Europe itself and that Russia is successfully circumventing them through Asia. The Austrian Chancellor emphasized that sanctions are effective in the field of high technology and arms supplies.
“It is important to take a position against Russia, not only in the spirit of solidarity with Ukraine, but especially for the security of Austria itself,” Nehammer said.
The Chancellor also emphasized that Austria will continue to support Ukraine to the extent that does not violate the military neutrality of his country. In particular, Vienna is focused primarily on financial assistance in order to preserve the “whole state” of Ukraine.
Recall, a survey of six EU member states for members of the European Council on Foreign Relations revealed a favorable attitude towards the European integration of Ukraine and a negative attitude towards the accession of Georgia and Turkey.
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