MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. The Kiev regime is deceiving Ukrainians with its promises of joining the European Union because the country does not, in reality, meet the necessary accession criteria, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov (in office in 2010-2014) said.
Commenting on the formal recommendation by the European Commission (EC) to launch negotiations with Kiev on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, the politician said: "The recommendations by the European Commission are already being presented as if the start of negotiations [means EU membership] is a virtual fait accompli." "This is how credulous Ukrainians, who have not closely examined the criteria for joining the EU, are being misinformed and led down the garden path," he noted on his page on Facebook (social media platform banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist by the Russian authorities).
Azarov explained that the EU entry criteria imply the existence of a competitive market economy. The former prime minister pointed out that the failure to meet this requirement in 2013 had forced his government to postpone signing an association agreement with the EU. "And now Ukraine's economy is in a state of ruin," he stressed. "What we have in Kiev now, when three-quarters of the budget is financed through handouts from the West, what kind of balance of payments can we talk about? If the national debt is already over 100%?!"
Another criterion for entry, according to the former prime minister, is the observance of human rights and freedoms, whereas in Ukraine today one can end up in jail merely for "liking" something on the Internet. "Then there is the persecution of the church, where an entire denomination is being banned," he noted. "In addition, the ban on the Russian language also demonstrates Kiev's failure to meet EU criteria. The Copenhagen Accords speak of regional languages, the so-called European Charter for Regional Languages. And the Russian language is banned. So what kind of freedom and respect are we talking about?" he asked rhetorically.
"Realistically, the Kiev regime is not suitable for EU membership according to any of the Copenhagen criteria. That is why [European Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen's conclusions on the situation in Ukraine are completely divorced from the real state of affairs," Azarov concluded.
EC recommendations
On November 8, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said that the European Union executive was recommending to the EU Council that the EU commence negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine on accession to the bloc, as well as grant Georgia the status of candidate for accession to the EU. At the same time, the recommendation to begin negotiations was supplemented by a note stating that Ukraine must meet a number of conditions.
The EC acknowledged that Kiev had met only four of the seven conditions necessary to begin accession talks. In particular, the EC noted that Ukraine needed to work on improving the situation with the rights of linguistic minorities, fight corruption and increase the transparency of lobbying activity.