The President of the European Commission this Friday praised the reforms implemented by the Kiev government for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. But the community manager chief reminded that the process has no “rigid calendars” and depends on objectives.
Ursula von der Leyen, however, welcomed Kiev’s efforts to bring Ukraine closer to European standards and said she was deeply impressed.”
“I want to commend you for the precision, quality and speed with which you [as reformas]”he stressed, believing that “it’s phenomenal” given the specific circumstances under which the trial is progressing.
“You are at war and while you are at war and defending your country against the aggressor you are able to carry out one reform after another and whatever it takes to move forward”he claimed.
With regard to comparisons with other accession processes, which have been dragging on for years, the President of the European Commission recalled that community-building started with six Member States and today, in a club of 27 Member States, each case is different.
“There are 21 different stories about the accession negotiations to the European Union and this shows that there is no one uniform event. It very much depends on the candidate country and how it is progressing”, the Commission President stressed during a joint press conference, concluding the summit with Ukraine, held in Kiev.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, admits that the discussion about Ukraine’s accession will come to the level of European governments later this year. The Belgian even admits that “by the end of the year the European Council will have to consider what the next step will be in terms of the accession process”.
But Ursula von der Leyen reminds that accession is conditional on reforms and that the negotiations have no set deadline. “The accession process is a merit-based process. In other words, there are no tight timetables, but there are objectives to be achieved,” he defended.
On 23 June 2022, Ukraine saw its status as a candidate country for membership of the European Union recognized. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had signed the formal application for membership on February 28, four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On the eve of the Kiev summit, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal expressed his desire for early accession to the European Union and believed that holding these meetings sends “a strong signal” to Ukraine’s “enemies “.
Source: DN
