Obviously, Ukraine belongs to the European Union

Thursday’s EU summit lasted 16 hours into Friday night. Three main issues were on the agenda of the heads of state and government, who were also visited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who requested additional weapons and reported on the country’s work to become a member of the European Union.

– It was unexpectedly forward-looking regarding Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union. That Ukraine belongs to it [EU] It is quite clear, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (C) said after the meeting.

He stressed the importance of not giving the country any special priority but that all requirements for EU membership must be met.

– There was a ray of light in the midst of all this and it’s not at all indulgent, that doesn’t mean it’s a quick trip to the EU where today’s conclusions clearly confirm that the EU sees Ukraine as belonging to Europe and in the EU and that we want to see that Checks.

Write off the inter-European Union borrowing

The second major issue on the agenda was the discussion of how the European Union would respond to the massive government support of the United States and China for companies developing green technology in the climate transition. The conclusions supported the Commission’s plan to facilitate “targeted, temporary and proportionate” financial support by EU countries for critical green sectors.

According to Prime Minister Christerson, many EU leaders only wanted this to happen on a limited scale in order to avoid competition over who could provide the most support.

– There were a lot of countries that indicated: not doing much but to a limited extent.

The Commission’s proposal also addresses possibilities for additional financing for countries that cannot support their companies, financing that some want to happen through EU countries jointly borrowing money. In the conclusions, EU leaders wrote that they had “noted” — diplomatic language of limited enthusiasm — that the Commission intended to make a concrete proposal before the summer.

Ulf Kristersson’s explanation for the summit is that there is no support for the new European joint borrowing.

– Christerson said: – I would say we crossed it out because there are many countries that indicate very strongly that they are completely irrelevant.

However, the summit discussion forms the basis for the Commission to launch sharp proposals on the issue in mid-March ahead of the next official EU summit at the end of the same month.

Tightening immigration policy

The issue of immigration, where disagreements between EU countries have existed for many years, has nevertheless been agreed on two aspects: more efforts to monitor who enters the EU and work to return those immigrants who do not have the right to stay.

The compromise was a strict immigration policy focused on external borders. Helping each other with resources to be able to manage the outer borders was probably the biggest and most important task in this matter today, Christerson said.

Several countries in the European Union have demanded that EU funds be used to build fences along the external borders. The result was that the Commission was asked to fund two pilot projects – reportedly in Bulgaria and Romania – to strengthen border control, including fencing.

The Heads of State and Government also agreed to intensify action to ensure that the EU rejects migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected. This is done, among other things, by increasing pressure on countries of origin and transit that refuse to take citizens back.