The Austrian Federal Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, believes that Ukraine and Moldova should be offered the opportunity to join the European Union as a sign of solidarity. However, he opposed an accelerated procedure for this process.
Nehammer said that his country would not support Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations under the present circumstances. He said that there was no need to grant any privileges to Ukraine compared to other countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are also in the process of accession negotiations.
The chancellor stressed that he supported the idea of giving Ukraine and Moldova the prospect of joining the EU as a sign of solidarity, but was against speeding up the process. He also explained that Austria generally adheres to the European Union’s policy of supporting solidarity with Ukraine but remaining neutral.
