Burç Eruygur
09 May 2023•Update: 09 May 2023
ISTANBUL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that the time has come for a “positive decision” on negotiations for Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
“Our values, security, prosperity and peace on the continent. All this can be realized for Europe 100% only together with Ukraine," Zelenskyy said, during a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who arrived in the capital Kyiv earlier in the day.
Zelenskyy said the time has also come for the removal of the “artificial political opacity” in Ukraine-EU relations, further saying that he is counting on the European Commission to present a positive assessment of Ukraine’s progress in European integration.
Kyiv officially applied for EU membership on Feb. 28, 2022, four days after the start of the war with Russia that Moscow calls a "special military operation."
The European Commission issued its opinion on the application of Ukraine's EU membership on June 17 last year, after which the European Council granted Kyiv candidate status.
Last December, Ukraine's parliament adopted several bills recommended by the European Commission to further the country's EU accession process.
Zelenskyy said that Kyiv shows the efficiency of its defense against Russia on a daily basis, further saying that he thanked the EU’s readiness to provide Ukraine with much-needed munitions, which he said amounted to one million artillery rounds.
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine expects the EU to remove all restrictions on the export of agricultural products, adding that he counts on the 11th sanctions package on Russia to also include measures against the country’s nuclear sector.
- Kyiv 'heart of European values'
For her part, von der Leyen said she is honored and privileged to be in Kyiv on the occasion of Europe Day, and also welcomed Ukraine’s decision to name May 9 as such.
“Kyiv as the capital of Ukraine is the beating heart of today’s European values. Ukraine is at the front line of the defense of everything we Europeans cherish. Our liberty, our democracy, our freedom of thought and speech. Courageously, Ukraine is fighting for the ideals of Europe that we celebrate today,” she said.
Claiming that Russia has destroyed these values in the country, she claimed that Moscow is attempting to do the same in Ukraine, but that it has “dramatically failed.”
She further reiterated Europe’s solidarity with Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” adding that further ammunition, financial support and sanctions have been at the agenda of her meeting with Zelenskyy.
She added that the European Commission adopted a proposal on the 11th package of sanctions against Russia last Friday, which she said focused on cracking down on sanctions circumvention.
