European Parliament calls for strongest signals to be sent to Ukraine at EU summit

European politicians said this before the summit in Brussels on December 14, Espreso correspondent Natalia Starepravo reports.

Thus, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that support for Ukraine is a matter of life and death.

Photo: Getty Images

"Ukraine has made titanic efforts to fulfill the conditions. We, as the European Commission, have given a positive assessment of this. And we will continue to defend our position on opening negotiations on Ukraine's accession," he said.

A similar opinion was expressed by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda."It is in our hands. We can make this decision, but we can also lose everything. I think the people of Ukraine and Moldova deserve this, because they have put a lot of effort into implementing the EC's recommendations. They deserve a positive decision. When and how can we make these positive decisions? We will see today," he said.

For her part, President of the European Parliament Roberta Mecola emphasized that in the case of Ukraine, it is not about immediate EU membership, but only about the next step on this path. "EU enlargement is a win-win situation for everyone. Ukraine should receive the moral, political, and financial support it deserves. And we, as the European Union, need it for our security. We would like to see a united, unanimous position today in order to send the strongest possible signals to Ukraine, which is fighting a war for us. We are not talking about immediate membership, but about the next step towards it," she said.

What is known about Ukraine's accession to the EU

On November 8, the European Commission recommended starting the process of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that Ukraine is successfully moving forward with European integration and is fighting hard for European values, so Ukraine's membership in the EU would mean its final victory. 

Subsequently, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that he believed Ukraine was not ready for EU membership, but would not block the start of accession negotiations. At the same time, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for negotiations to begin by the end of 2023.

On November 13, members of the European Parliament called on the Council of Europe to decide on December 14-15 to start negotiations on Ukraine and Moldova's accession to the EU.

At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who arrived at the EU summit, said that his position had not changed: Ukraine is not ready to join the EU.