Sunday

4th Jun 2023

EU candidate status would be 'watershed', Ukraine official says

  • Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), is expected to visit several countries to discuss Ukraine's membership bid with EU leaders (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

The Speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, called on Wednesday (8 June) on EU countries to support his country's bid this month to join the 27-member bloc.

It is very important for Ukraine to hear this "powerful message" from Europe, he said in an address to the European Parliament, hoping for a positive reaction from EU leaders later this month at the next EU summit.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"Let's do everything possible that on the 24th of June we'll see a watershed day, an important day for us, and our joint great victory," Stefanchuk said.

He warned that otherwise Russian president Vladimir Putin would hear the signal that he can move on with impunity.

The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, will visit several countries to discuss Ukraine's membership bid with the EU leaders ahead of the next summit.

EU leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine's bid when they meet in Brussels on 23 and 24 June.

Nevertheless, granting Ukraine a candidate status does not mean it will join the EU automatically. This process could take years, or decades, as French president Emmanuel Macron said last month.

"We are clearly aware and guarantee that having received this impulse and political message, we are ready to continue working and are ready to do it quickly and efficiently," Stefanchuk said.

The European Parliament already supported Ukraine's membership application, but the process remains long and burdensome.

"A realistic prospect of EU membership is of huge importance to Ukraine," said liberal Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt.

German MEP Manfred Weber, leader of the group for the centre-right European People's Party, urged EU leaders to grant Ukraine EU candidate status — but also to Moldova, which faces its own security concerns in the Russian-speaking separatist region of Transnistria.

The European Commission is expected to deliver its opinion on the potential EU membership of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova ahead of the next summit.

Ukraine currently has an association agreement with the EU, but Kyiv has been seeking increasingly close cooperation and economic integration.

A few days after the Russian invasion, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for Ukraine's immediate admission under a "new special procedure" on 28 February.

The price of defeat

Stefanchuk also thanked the European Union for implementing six packages of sanctions against Russia, despite their negative impact on European economies because "the price of defeat will be way bigger".

"But if the war is continuing, then perhaps more has to be done to make the war impossible for Putin," he said.

Stefanchuk said that Ukraine was ready to stand for common values — praising European Parliament president Roberta Metsola for being one of the first European leaders to visit Kyiv after the outbreak of the war.

Metsola, for her part, pledged to keep helping and supporting Ukraine.

"We cannot lose momentum, we cannot lose focus, we cannot turn away and allow war fatigue to set in," she said.

"What Ukraine has had to endure was unthinkable a few months ago, but your people have inspired the world," she added.

Opinion

More EU teams needed to prosecute Ukraine war crimes

A Joint Investigation Team combines prosecutors, police and judges from different countries who come together under the coordination of Eurojust to synchronise cross-border investigations — with a track record of achieving results: from the Bataclan attacks to the MH17 investigation.

Exclusive

EU wargames fictional crisis in West Africa

The EU is preparing to wargame a fictional crisis in a West Africa-type setting, shedding light on how Europe sees its threats and military ambitions.

EU heavyweights pledge Ukraine 'immediate' candidate status

French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian premier Mario Draghi and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said they support fast-tracking Ukraine becoming an official candidate to join the bloc.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. Spanish PM to delay EU presidency speech due to snap election
  2. EU data protection chief launches Frontex investigation
  3. Madrid steps up bid to host EU anti-money laundering hub
  4. How EU leaders should deal with Chinese government repression
  5. MEPs pile on pressure for EU to delay Hungary's presidency
  6. IEA: World 'comfortably' on track for renewables target
  7. Europe's TV union wooing Lavrov for splashy interview
  8. ECB: eurozone home prices could see 'disorderly' fall

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us