EU Loan to Ukraine Masks Deep Rift Over Membership Bid

BRUSSELS, April 25. /TASS/. The European Union's decision to approve the 90-billion-euro loan to Ukraine could not mask the rift among its members, which became obvious during the latest summit in Cyprus, Politico wrote. The article says that "the celebration" in the EU "will be short-lived" because the next item on the agenda is Ukraine's admission to the club. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told reporters he favored "accelerating" Ukraine's membership, but Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic all but scoffed at the idea of Kiev joining any time soon. "I don't think it's realistic that it'll happen on the first of January '27," he was quoted as saying. An unnamed European official told the portal that despite euphoria in the EU regarding the outcome of elections in Hungary, the defeat of longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party in the latest parliamentary election has only made things more complicated. "Leaders against Ukraine's EU accession can no longer hide behind Orban's stance," one EU official closely involved in the talks has told Politico. Following an informal EU summit in Cyprus, European Council President Antonio Costa ruled out accelerated membership for Ukraine, telling Ukrainian journalists that a lot of work remains to be done.