Irbin (agencies)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky won the support of the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania yesterday to grant his country the status of a candidate country for European Union membership, while urging them to send more weapons and impose tougher sanctions on Russia. In the first such visit to the capital since the Russian attack on February 24, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Ukraine belongs to the “European family.”
Ukraine has urged the European Union to clear its way to membership, but the move has raised concerns in the 27-nation bloc. The meeting came a day before the European Commission is scheduled to make a recommendation regarding Ukraine’s status as a candidate state. Having earlier dismissed suggestions he was taking a lenient approach to Russia, Macron said the West would not ask for any concessions from Ukraine and that peace talks would be on Kyiv’s terms.
Zelensky, who has not left Ukraine since the attack, said he was grateful for the West’s help, despite his administration’s previous reproaches to allies for their failure to impose sanctions on Russia and supply Ukraine with weapons.
“My colleagues and I came to Kyiv with a clear message that Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Schulz said.
As for Macron, he said: “The four of us support the immediate granting of candidate state status to the European Union” to Ukraine, adding that “Europe is on your side, and will remain with you as long as this is necessary, until victory is achieved.”
During a press conference in Kyiv, along with his German, French, Italian and Romanian counterparts, Zelensky said that Ukraine was “ready” to work to become a “full member state” in the European Union.
“Ukrainians have deserved to go down this path and have candidate status,” Zelensky added after meeting Schulz, Macron, Draghi and Yohannes.
#European #leaders #Ukraine #belongs #European #family