Speaking to the Bundestag in Berlin ahead of the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, Scholz said he would push hard for the approval of both Ukraine and Moldova as EU candidates, but stressed that such a commitment accompanied by commitments. “I will make every effort at the European Council to ensure that the whole EU unanimously says’ yes’ to Ukraine and Moldova ‘s candidacy,” she said, adding that the EU must also be “capable of taking on new members”. “ He argued that the bloc should change its voting rules to a qualified majority to prevent individual countries from blocking decisions. He specifically mentioned foreign policy as an area where such a change was needed. Scholz has previously stated that a change in voting rules could be decided quickly if all EU countries gave their approval. However, several EU countries, including France, have already objected to granting their veto power in key areas such as foreign policy. The German chancellor also called for broader “institutional reforms” in the EU, which would likely require a complex change of treaty, and said such reforms “should be used to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in the EU”. He also called for a “Marshall Plan” for post-war reconstruction in Ukraine and said Germany would push for a “high-level international conference of experts” to coordinate reconstruction efforts. Scholz also said that Ukraine and Russia are still “very, very far away” from peace talks “because [Russian President Vladimir] “Putin still believes in the possibility of a” dictatorial peace “imposed on his neighbor. Therefore, Scholz said, Germany and its allies must “firmly” maintain sanctions against Russia as well as continue arms deliveries to Ukraine “until Putin finally acknowledges his colossal mistake.”
