Zürcher Nachrichten - EU leaders douse Ukraine's swift accession hopes at crisis summit

EUR -
AED 4.174366
AFN 81.263391
ALL 98.992593
AMD 443.605618
ANG 2.04828
AOA 1042.731791
ARS 1327.399657
AUD 1.775766
AWG 2.045677
AZN 1.936541
BAM 1.957242
BBD 2.294621
BDT 138.077825
BGN 1.955089
BHD 0.428323
BIF 3332.181304
BMD 1.136487
BND 1.493728
BOB 7.85289
BRL 6.464005
BSD 1.136452
BTN 97.010768
BWP 15.66475
BYN 3.71886
BYR 22275.154691
BZD 2.282812
CAD 1.577275
CDF 3269.674903
CHF 0.940675
CLF 0.027689
CLP 1062.559423
CNY 8.282385
CNH 8.28367
COP 4799.329822
CRC 575.231484
CUC 1.136487
CUP 30.116918
CVE 110.584658
CZK 24.977386
DJF 201.977003
DKK 7.465932
DOP 67.110032
DZD 150.630497
EGP 57.867447
ERN 17.047312
ETB 148.997912
FJD 2.566701
FKP 0.854259
GBP 0.853603
GEL 3.11442
GGP 0.854259
GHS 17.400067
GIP 0.854259
GMD 81.827503
GNF 9836.29958
GTQ 8.752565
GYD 237.760437
HKD 8.816132
HNL 29.325739
HRK 7.53628
HTG 148.395882
HUF 405.681013
IDR 19097.649334
ILS 4.118665
IMP 0.854259
INR 97.039382
IQD 1488.798604
IRR 47846.123487
ISK 145.334458
JEP 0.854259
JMD 179.852534
JOD 0.805888
JPY 163.284884
KES 147.179449
KGS 99.386267
KHR 4564.134135
KMF 491.535149
KPW 1022.802499
KRW 1634.678573
KWD 0.348618
KYD 0.94701
KZT 585.178945
LAK 24576.542243
LBP 101685.195801
LKR 340.524455
LRD 227.290492
LSL 21.223948
LTL 3.355753
LVL 0.68745
LYD 6.210949
MAD 10.518236
MDL 19.614713
MGA 5128.404041
MKD 61.557092
MMK 2386.049405
MNT 4031.910014
MOP 9.079811
MRU 44.982605
MUR 51.517408
MVR 17.513702
MWK 1970.595492
MXN 22.169693
MYR 4.97104
MZN 72.73559
NAD 21.230015
NGN 1828.699709
NIO 41.82137
NOK 11.862888
NPR 155.214696
NZD 1.905899
OMR 0.437538
PAB 1.136452
PEN 4.170345
PGK 4.606228
PHP 63.921782
PKR 319.296584
PLN 4.271432
PYG 9090.338785
QAR 4.137995
RON 4.979297
RSD 103.32159
RUB 93.824616
RWF 1609.266278
SAR 4.263349
SBD 9.494571
SCR 16.156575
SDG 682.464912
SEK 11.005863
SGD 1.493122
SHP 0.893101
SLE 25.802433
SLL 23831.555846
SOS 649.506759
SRD 41.914838
STD 23522.996365
SVC 9.942933
SYP 14776.390786
SZL 21.230006
THB 38.129575
TJS 12.023625
TMT 3.989071
TND 3.40496
TOP 2.661772
TRY 43.665899
TTD 7.719791
TWD 36.993847
TZS 3057.151713
UAH 47.526659
UGX 4165.904928
USD 1.136487
UYU 47.4435
UZS 14717.513301
VES 94.682955
VND 29573.109071
VUV 137.963623
WST 3.161504
XAF 656.455186
XAG 0.034347
XAU 0.000343
XCD 3.071415
XDR 0.817085
XOF 654.052633
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.557163
ZAR 21.239281
ZMK 10229.755219
ZMW 31.734804
ZWL 365.948506
  • RBGPF

    -0.2600

    63.19

    -0.41%

  • JRI

    0.1400

    12.74

    +1.1%

  • CMSC

    0.0000

    22.33

    -0%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    9.89

    -0.61%

  • BCC

    -0.5800

    95.51

    -0.61%

  • NGG

    -0.2200

    72.04

    -0.31%

  • BTI

    -0.4000

    42.05

    -0.95%

  • RIO

    -1.1300

    60.56

    -1.87%

  • GSK

    -0.0700

    37.43

    -0.19%

  • BP

    0.1900

    29.19

    +0.65%

  • RELX

    0.3800

    53.55

    +0.71%

  • AZN

    0.0200

    69.57

    +0.03%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    22.46

    +0.04%

  • RYCEF

    0.3100

    10.15

    +3.05%

  • BCE

    -0.3600

    21.65

    -1.66%

  • VOD

    0.0400

    9.35

    +0.43%

EU leaders douse Ukraine's swift accession hopes at crisis summit
EU leaders douse Ukraine's swift accession hopes at crisis summit

EU leaders douse Ukraine's swift accession hopes at crisis summit

EU leaders doused Ukraine's hopes gaining membership of the European Union quickly on Thursday, as they met to urgently address the fallout of the Russia's invasion.

Text size:

The meeting at the palace of Versailles was set to be the high point of France's six-month EU presidency, but President Emmanuel Macron is instead leading a crisis summit following Russian leader Vladimir Putin's brutal disruption of decades of stability in Europe.

The Ukraine war and the EU's energy supply were to dominate the two-day meeting, with leaders sitting down for dinner in the same Hall of Mirrors where Western allies carved out a new map of Europe in 1919 after World War I.

"Europe will change even faster and stronger with the war (in Ukraine)", Macron said as he greeted his counterparts at the former residence of France's Sun King, Louis XIV.

The 27 heads of state and government met as fighting raged for a 15th day in Ukraine, with an outcry over the bombing of a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as a Russian "war crime". Moscow denied carrying it out, calling it a "staged provocation" by Ukraine.

Macron dubbed it a "disgraceful act of war", with leaders from across the bloc condemning the atrocity and Spain calling it a "war crime" that demanded punishment.

The conflict has seen a swell of support in the EU for Ukrainian President Zelensky, but leaders used the talks to reiterate that a speedy track to membership was impossible.

"There is no such thing as a fast track," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said as he arrived for the talks.

"I want to focus on what can we do for Volodymyr Zelensky tonight, tomorrow, and EU accession of Ukraine is something for the long term, if at all," he added.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel warned against giving Kyiv the impression that "everything can happen overnight".

- 'Biggest issue' -

Even before the war, Macron's ambition for the summit was to lay down a path to strengthen Europe's stature on the world stage.

The issue took greater significance with Russia's war on the bloc's eastern edge and leaders were to explore ways to shore up Europe's self-reliance in a starkly more dangerous world, especially on energy.

The conflict has seen energy prices skyrocket, threatened the economy and sparked a pressing discussion on where Europeans can turn for gas and oil.

The EU imports about 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia with Germany, Europe's biggest economy, especially dependent on the energy flow, along with Italy and several central European countries.

About a quarter of the EU's oil imports also come from Russia.

Europe's dependency on Russian energy even caused the first crack in the West's unified response to Putin's aggression, with the EU this week shying away from a ban on Russian oil imports implemented by the United States and Britain.

According to a draft of the meeting's final declaration, the 27 leaders will cautiously agree to "phase out" the bloc's dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal.

- 'Resolutely invest' -

The EU leaders will also try to advance on ways Europe can gain independence in highly sensitive sectors, including semiconductors, food production and most notably defence.

Collective security in the European Union is primarily handled by the US-led NATO alliance, but France, the EU's biggest military power, would like the bloc to play a bigger role.

Since Russia's belligerence against its pro-EU neighbour, bloc members have approved a total of half a billion euros in defence aid to Ukraine.

Berlin dramatically broke with long-standing doctrine when it announced it will plough 100 billion euros into national defence.

In view of the challenges, "we must resolutely invest more and better in defence capabilities and innovative technologies", the leaders were expected to say.

B.Brunner--NZN