This edition of State of the Union focuses on Mark Rutte's appointment as the next NATO secretary general and the opening of EU accession talks with Ukraine
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00:00Hello and welcome to State of the Union, I'm Stephan Grube in Brussels.
00:09Mark Rutte has made it.
00:12NATO finally appointed the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister as its next boss.
00:17This move became a formality after his only rival for the post, Romania's President Klaus
00:22Johannes, had quit the race, having failed to gain traction.
00:27NATO leaders will officially welcome Rutte to their table at a summit in Washington in
00:31a little over a week.
00:33Once at the helm of the world's most powerful military organization, it is questionable
00:38whether the bike-loving Rutte will still be able to give casual interviews to the local
00:43press.
00:44For Ukraine, the appointment of Rutte, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, was great news.
01:09After all, Rutte had described the so-called Russian peace plan as absolutely crazy.
01:17This is the language that Ukraine likes to hear.
01:21And there was more good news for Kiev the week President Zelensky came to town.
01:26The EU formally opened talks on Ukraine's accession to the European Union, a development
01:31hailed historic.
01:33But the reality is, it's going to be a long way with no end in sight.
01:39Nonetheless, the outgoing Belgian EU presidency saw the talks as morale booster.
02:04Well, whether the incoming Hungarian EU presidency will support Ukraine is doubtful.
02:10Budapest has been blocking support for Ukraine whenever it could.
02:15Will that change?
02:16Joining me now is Teona Lavarelasvili, political scientist at Catholic University in Leuven
02:22and a visiting fellow at the Wilfrid Martin Center for European Studies.
02:26Welcome to the program.
02:27Thank you for having me.
02:29Hello.
02:30The EU started the accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova just days before Hungary takes
02:35over the rotating council presidency.
02:38Is this a coincidence?
02:39Well, I would argue that this is not a coincidence, because we know that Hungary's priority is
02:47mainly on the Western Balkans, especially on Serbia.
02:51Therefore, I think that the EU leaders were, let's say, constructive and smart enough to
02:59start the accession talks with Moldova and Ukraine before Hungary's presidency.
03:06As the opening of negotiations is only a small step in a long journey towards membership,
03:14can Hungary still derail the process?
03:17Well, Stefan, I think you indeed noticed and remarked very well about the longevity of
03:24this step.
03:25And when it comes to Hungary's role, well, we need to see the overall situation.
03:31Of course, also, we will need to observe who will take up the portfolio of enlargement.
03:37But I would say that, yes, Hungary still will have certain tools to influence enlargement
03:43process in the upcoming months to come.
03:46Next to Hungary, there is another obstacle to enlargement, and that is a certain Ukraine
03:51fatigue in some countries.
03:54How dangerous is that for Kiev?
03:57This is, to a certain extent, dangerous in the long term, but in the short term, I would
04:01say that enlargement negotiations and opening and closing chapters, let's say, bureaucratic
04:06and technical process, will continue.
04:08And I think this is a huge opportunity for Ukraine, but also for Moldova, because this
04:13will give and grant these countries immense window of opportunity for their rapprochement
04:20with the European Union.
04:22Of course, we know that expertise is missing.
04:25I think we should be clear in this respect, especially when it comes to environment, agriculture.
04:31And I think that Brussels will need to also help a lot these countries.
04:35Yeah, we all agree it's going to be a long process.
04:38When can we realistically expect to have Ukraine as an EU member state?
04:44This is a tricky question.
04:45And I think that we cannot have a deadline or a timeframe in this respect, because it
04:52depends on many factors.
04:54On the one hand, we have the political willingness of the European Union.
04:57And on the other hand, also the role is in the hands and in the court of Ukraine.
05:04It depends on the pace of reforms, but also on the security situation, I would say, how
05:10this will evolve.
05:12We have not discussed, but one of the important, let's say, hurdles and obstacles to EU integration
05:19enlargement as such also will be security considerations next to the budgetary considerations
05:25from the EU side.
05:27So challenges are there.
05:29Therefore, I would say that naming the concrete deadline is tricky.
05:35But again, the most important thing is to benefit as much as possible from the process
05:39of enlargement of negotiations itself and make the enlargement a transformative experience
05:45for Ukraine, but also for other enlargement countries.
05:48All right, political scientist Teona Lavrilashvili, thanks for coming on the show today.
05:54Thank you for having me.
05:56Before we go, let's talk about the extreme weather that we're seeing in these early summer
06:01days.
06:02While the southern half of Europe kept struggling with a sweltering heat wave, heavy rains and
06:07cool temperatures were the weather default mode in much of the north.
06:12In southeastern Switzerland, massive thunderstorms and rainfall caused severe flooding and triggered
06:18a landslide that killed several people.
06:21A key north-south motorway towards Italy was submerged and destroyed.
06:27In the meantime, in towns and villages, the cleanup has begun.
06:32The waters of many rivers and streams have receded, but the situation remained tense.
06:37The damage assessment was ongoing.
06:40The repair of major roads will take at least three to four weeks, according to the authorities.
06:48So wherever you travel in Europe this summer, be careful.
06:53That's it for this edition.
06:54I'm Stefan Grobe.
06:55Thank you for watching.
06:57Have an excellent week.