The decision to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU is the main positive political result of 2023 for Ukrainian society. According to the results of the European Summit, which took place in Brussels on December 14-15, this opinion was expressed by Alona Lebedieva, an economic expert and the owner of the multidisciplinary Industrial and Investment group of companies Aurum Group.
“De facto, negotiations regarding the future fate of Ukraine have been going on at various levels for a long time, and the convergence of positions that we saw at the Summit certainly inspires hope. In big politics, there is no “convenient coincidence” of circumstances, the result was achieved thanks to the effective implementation of compromise solutions from all sides,” said Alona Lebedieva.
“In a few days, we saw: firstly, Ukraine made concessions to Austria regarding the exclusion of Raiffeisen Bank from the list of “war sponsors”, and we received a political “agreement” on the adoption of the 12th package of sanctions, which was already voted for yesterday. The package included such important points as a ban on the import of diamonds of Russian origin, a ban on the import of cast iron, copper and aluminum wires, and increased control over the “price ceiling” on oil, which would seriously hit the aggressor’s economy. The lengthy discussion of the package did not reduce the list of sanctioned persons and companies, but even expanded it“, the expert emphasized.
“Secondly, literally on the eve of the Summit, the European Commission allocated more than 10 billion euros to Hungary, which were previously frozen. And Viktor Orban left the hall in a very timely manner, just when the vote was taking place regarding the start of negotiations for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. He had the opportunity to block the start of negotiations – but he did not do it. 26 European leaders made a historic decision for Ukraine. And this, in my opinion, is the main positive political result of 2023 for Ukrainian society“, noted Alona Lebedieva.
Alona Lebedieva also noted: “On the way to European integration, we will need to be looking for more compromise solutions Ahead are the elections to the European Parliament, which can significantly update its composition, the adoption of the negotiating framework, after all, our political partners are also our economic competitors. But today it is important that, despite the high tension of the negotiation process in Brussels, the parties showed the possibility of conducting a constructive dialogue. For which we are very grateful.”
We will remind, the day before, Alona Lebedieva expressed the opinion that the macroeconomic stability of Ukraine in 2024 will depend on the stability of aid from partners: “According to estimates, next year the Ukrainian economy will be able to independently provide a little more than half of its own expenses, which will go to the needs of the army. Under these conditions, the macroeconomic stability of the country in 2024 continues to depend precisely on the stability of assistance from partners. The EU became our main support in 2023. And I sincerely believe that despite certain disputes within the European Union regarding Ukraine, we will continue to feel unprecedented support from European society.”