The president of the European Council Charles Michel has praised Ukraine’s “political will” to progress on European reforms, but has insisted that it is time to wait for the evaluation report from the European Commission after the summer.
Euskaraz irakurri: Bat-egitearen negoziazioen data zehazteari uko egin dio EBk, Ukrainak “lehenbailehen” egitea eskatu badu ere
The European Union has avoided this Friday after the summit with Ukraine in kyiv to set deadlines for the opening of accession negotiations to the blocdespite the insistence of the president, Volodimir Zelenski, to speed up the entry process to take this step “as soon as possible.”
This has been reflected in the press conference after the meeting, in which Zelenski set himself the goal, in front of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the opening of negotiations this year. “We have already begun to prepare and we await the respective decisions of the Commission and the Council. The objective is to start negotiations this year, it is not a purpose but the most important objective,” stressed the Ukrainian president.
Faced with Zelenski’s impetus, community leaders have pointed out that the accession process to the EU is based on the merits of the candidates themselves, so there is no fixed calendar. “There are no set deadlines, but objectives to be achieved. Reforms to improve the situation in the candidate country to then open accession negotiations and achieve entry into the EU,” Von der Leyen assured at the press conference.
For his part, Michel praised the Ukraine’s “political will” to make progress on European reforms but he has insisted that it is time to wait for the evaluation report from the European Commission for after the summer. As she has pointed out, “by the end of the year” the European Council will be able to address the next steps in Ukraine’s accession. “We will have to study the report and make decisions unanimously,” she said.
This same balance is reflected in the joint declaration agreed by Brussels and kyiv that stresses the European commitment to a greater integration of Ukraine, but makes it clear that the block will decide the steps to follow “once all the conditions specified in the Commission’s opinion are fully met”.
Source: Eitb
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