General documents - Joint Statement ahead of the European Council of 14-15 December 2023 and on continued support to Ukraine - Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee

Joint Statement by the Bureau of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, the European Parliament's Standing Rapporteur on Ukraine and the Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly

Brussels/ Kyiv, 13 December 2023

Members of the EU-Ukraine PAC Bureau, joined by the EP's standing rapporteur on Ukraine and the Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, issue the following joint statement with regard to continued EU support in the context of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as the upcoming decisions of the European Council of 14-15 December 2023:

We remind of the Grenada declaration according to which EU enlargement is a geo-strategic investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity and therefore we call on Member States and all stakeholders to respect and build on earlier unanimous decisions of the European Council with regard to the agreed framework of the EU's engagement with Ukraine, based on Ukraine's confirmed EU candidate status and path towards starting EU accession negotiations.

We reaffirm our full and unequivocal commitment to the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU. In this regard we welcome the Communication from the Commission of 8 November 2023 on the EU Enlargement Policy and in particular its recommendation to the Council to open accession negotiations with Ukraine.

We commend the considerable efforts that Ukraine demonstrated towards meeting the objectives underpinning its candidate status for the EU membership since June 2022 and welcome the progress achieved in the process of adoption and consistent implementation of the reforms.

[...]

We urge the European Council of 14-15 December 2023 to deploy all necessary efforts to reach political agreement on enlargement, in particular on the possible opening of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. We call upon the European Commission to start swiftly the preparations for the opening of the negotiations with Ukraine, in particular the negotiating framework as well as the analytical examination of the acquis (screening).

[...]

We urge the EU to ensure that funding for Ukraine will continue after January 2024 by reaching political agreement on the Ukraine Facility as soon as possible, or by adopting a targeted transitional MFA programme for the early months of 2024, until the Ukraine Facility is operational.

For the full text of the Joint Statement, see the link to the PDF file below.