The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visits Kiev. The operation in the Ukrainian capital was not announced in advance for security reasons.
“Every time I come to Ukraine, I feel a certain feeling of tension because it is a war zone, but I also firmly believe that I am encouraging and reassuring Ukraine: we stand firmly by their side side,” said von der Leyen. upon his arrival in Kiev in the agency pool of the European Newsroom, to which ANSA belongs. “I have many issues to discuss, starting with enlargement and Ukraine’s application to become part of the EU. We will also talk about financial and military support for Kiev and the twelfth package of sanctions against Moscow, he stressed.
Ukraine has made “excellent progress” with regard to EU accession, “we will see that next week when the Commission presents its enlargement report,” said the chairman of the Community Executive Board at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I want to tell you how impressed we are by the reforms you have carried out while you are waging an existential war,” von der Leyen stressed, saying she was “confident” that by completing the reforms, Ukraine would “go to the “The accession process can be moved to the next stage.”
“We will present a proposal before the end of the year” on the use of frozen Russian state assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine, announced von der Leyen. “We will continue to make Russia pay for its war of aggression,” he said, stressing that the proposal “will be well coordinated with G7 partners” and is the result of “intensive work” by the EU together with member countries. in a working group last month”.
The war against Russia has “not stalled,” said Ukrainian President Zelensky. “Time has passed and today people are tired, but this is not a stalemate,” Zelensky said, emphasizing the need to “protect the population.” “We can’t even think about defeat. There is no alternative,” he added. “It is a very important moment, the moment when we are waiting for the political decision on Ukraine for the start of EU accession negotiations. This decision will play a fundamental role in the history of not only Ukraine, but all of Europe.” With the start of negotiations, he emphasized, “we will guarantee new foundations for the growth of Ukraine and all European countries” and “we will become real “guarantee economic and social security for our country and the Ukrainian people.”
Next Tuesday, the European Commission will present its traditional enlargement package, which consists of reports on the progress of the EU’s candidate countries over the past year. This includes Ukraine, which Brussels recognized as a candidate country in June 2022, the first formal phase of the accession process. As we understand it, the EU executive could decide to recommend to the European Council to proceed with the opening of negotiations with Kiev, thereby moving to the next stage of the process, which is characterized by the alignment of the Ukrainian national system with the EU one. However, the move should come with some conditions associated with reforms in the country, especially in the areas of anti-corruption and minority protection. The member countries are then asked to express their opinion unanimously. The green light could then be given at the last EU summit of the year on December 14th and 15th. Von der Leyen’s services are currently finalizing the report on Ukraine, which will be the focus of today’s talks between the EU President and Zelensky. European sources observe that in recent weeks and months the debate has also expanded to include what the EU needs to do to be ready to welcome Kiev. This, it is explained, shows that the EU has a “geostrategic interest” in enlargement because “after the war, no country can be in the middle” between Europe and Russia.
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