Ukraine’s leadership on Thursday made an unequivocal plea for EU membership as the bloc’s top officials met their government counterparts in Kyiv in a first-of-its-kind gathering, according to Euractiv.
Welcoming the EU executive’s delegation in a heavily fortified Gorodetsky House in central Kyiv, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday pressed EU visitors to advance his war-torn country’s accession to the bloc.
“I believe that Ukraine deserves to start negotiations on EU membership this year,” Zelenskyy said after talks with von der Leyen, thanking the EU executive for the military, financial and humanitarian support “on the path to integration”.
He added that further integration with the European bloc would inspire Ukrainians and give them “motivation” to fight against Russian troops as it was important “not only to have victories on the battlefield” but also to believe in a peaceful Europe.
Accession to the EU would be “the next logical step”, Zelenskyy said when he later met the whole EU delegation.
But many EU officials believe Kyiv’s path to full membership will be a long process that could take years, while the bloc also needs to manage the expectations of other EU candidates which awaiting been waiting their turn for up to a decade.
The European Commission recommended EU candidate status for Ukraine in June on the understanding that Kyiv undertakes a series of legislative and policy steps, dubbed the seven recommendations.
These recommendations included enacting legislation on a selection process for the country’s Constitutional Court judges on a competitive basis, strengthening the fight against corruption, harmonising media regulation with EU standards, and protecting national minorities.
As Kyiv has been pressing ahead with reforms over the past months, Ukrainian leaders have expressed hopes that their country could join the bloc in the near future, possibly even within the next two years.