Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, made her second visit to Kiev since the beginning of the war. Von der Leyen conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the opinion of the EU executive body on Ukraine’s request to join the union will be ready by the end of next week.
At a joint press conference with Zelensky in Kiev, Von der Leyen said that talks with the President of Ukraine today will allow “to finalize their assessment by the end of next week” on whether to recommend Ukraine to become an EU candidate.
This step will be just the first step in the long process of membership.
The governments of the 27 EU member states must agree to grant Ukraine candidacy status. After this, extensive discussions will be held on the reforms that Kiev should undertake in order to become a member of the union.
Von der Leyen sent the message to Zelenski that despite the progress made in administrative reforms and other areas, there is still much work to be done.
“You have done a lot in strengthening the rule of law, but there are still reforms that need to be implemented, for example the fight against corruption,” the President of the European Commission said at the joint press conference.
Zelenski also said, “All of Europe is the target of Russia and Ukraine is only the first stage of this aggression.”
“Therefore, the EU’s positive response to Ukraine’s membership application may also mean a positive response to the question of whether the European project will have a future,” the President of Ukraine said.