The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday praised Ukraine’s «ambition and speed» in the reform agenda to join the European Union and hopes that this progress will be reflected in decisions by the EU-27 next autumn, when they will assess the situation of all the candidate countries.
At a press conference in Sweden, the head of the European Executive defended that accession to the EU is a «step-by-step» process, with the report on Enlargement next autumn as the next goal, but she did not hesitate to praise the «impressive speed and ambition» shown by Kiev.
The German conservative has put the accent on Ukraine taking steps forward on the European reform path «with quality» as well as speed, so that precisely the progress report on accession will reflect these achievements. «And that, of course, brings then, hopefully, interesting and positive decisions of the Council,» she said.
In this way, he insisted on the message of support for Ukraine on its European path, after it received candidate status from the EU-27 last June, in an unprecedented decision by the EU for a country at war and which had formally applied for accession only four months earlier.
The President of the European Commission recalled that the college of commissioners will travel to Kiev on February 3 for the meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council, in a sign of support for the country in the face of Russian military aggression. «We will review joint issues, between 18 and 20, with the Ukrainian government. This shows how broad the shared agenda is,» he has pointed out.
Von der Leyen kicked off the six-month EU Presidency together with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who defended Stockholm’s commitment to Ukraine’s entry into the EU, although he stressed that the rules and due accession procedure must be followed. «There is a timetable for this and the report will report on the progress achieved,» the Scandinavian leader insisted.
UKRAINE’S VICTORY IS «EXISTENTIAL» FOR EUROPE Kristersson stressed that one of the priorities during the Swedish semester will be to have a more secure Europe, so he called Ukraine’s victory over Russian troops «existential» and defended continuing to provide political, military, economic and humanitarian support to the Eastern European country.
In this sense, he has asked to avoid divisions within the Twenty-Seven, insisting that these cracks are precisely those sought by Moscow. «Unity is our main strength,» he has indicated, to sum up that «no task is more important» for the Swedish presidency than ensuring support for Ukraine to achieve victory over Russia. «The fate of Ukraine is the fate of Europe,» he summed up.
In turn, Von der Leyen stressed that the EU will continue to support Kiev on all fronts, «as from day one and as long as necessary», in a call to Sweden to lead the European efforts in this direction.
Thus, he called to continue to increase pressure on Russia and maintain «unwavering support» to Ukraine, stressing that in the coming months Brussels will get down to work for the reconstruction of the country and will disburse the largest ever macro-financial assistance to a third country, amounting to 18 billion.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
