European Parliament adopts resolution on eve of summit in Kyiv

This is stated in a resolution of the European Parliament adopted on February 2.

The document was adopted with 489 votes in favor, 36 MEPs voted against, and 49 abstained.

The European Parliament's resolution sets out expectations for the upcoming summit of EU and Ukrainian political leaders in Kyiv on February 3. 

In particular, speaking about the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU, MEPs demanded that the EU "work towards the start of the accession negotiations and to support a roadmap outlining the next steps to enable Ukraine’s accession to the EU single market." 

At the same time, MEPs emphasized that accession is a merit-based process that requires compliance with the relevant procedures, as well as the implementation of relevant reforms and accession criteria. Therefore, they called on the Ukrainian authorities to implement substantial reforms as soon as possible to effectively align with the EU membership criteria.

The European Parliament also called on EU member states to increase and accelerate military assistance to Kyiv, including the provision of weapons, as well as political, economic, infrastructural, financial and humanitarian support.

Speaking about the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit, the MEPs propose to prioritize a comprehensive recovery package for Ukraine. 

"This package must focus on relief, reconstruction and recovery in the short-, medium- and long-term. Support would further help encourage economic growth in Ukraine after the war," the resolution says.

Assessing Ukraine's reconstruction needs, the resolution also reiterated the call to use the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank, as well as the assets of Russian oligarchs, to finance post-war reconstruction.

In addition, MEPs called on EU member states to adopt the 10th package of sanctions against Moscow as soon as possible and to continuously and actively propose new sectors and individuals to be subject to restrictions.

The Parliament called for sanctions to be imposed on companies such as Lukoil and Rosatom, which are still present on the EU market, as well as on officials involved in illegal actions, including forced deportations and the holding of fake referendums on the occupied Ukrainian territory.

The resolution also calls for an immediate and complete embargo on EU imports of fossil fuels and uranium from Russia, and for a complete abandonment of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

• The EU-Ukraine summit will take place on February 3 in Kyiv. Preliminary negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU will be one of the topics discussed at the summit. 

• On February 2, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy, as well as 15 European commissioners arrived in Kyiv to participate in the summit. On the eve of the summit, joint consultations between the Ukrainian government and the European Commission were opened.