Ukraine’s accession to the EU “will probably take 15 or 20 years,” said French Deputy Minister for European Affairs Clément Beaune on Sunday (22.05.2022), who believes that Kyiv will belong to the European political community proposed by President Emmanuel Macron can join .
“You have to be honest. (…) If we say that Ukraine will join the EU in 6 months, 1 year or 2 years, we are lying. That’s not true. It’s probably in 10 or 20 years.” Beaune assured during an interview in radius j
“In the meantime, we owe the Ukrainians … a political project that they can get involved in,” he continued.
In early May, Macron proposed creating a “European Political Community” as a “complement” to the accession process.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the proposal on Saturday and insisted on the immediate start of the process for full EU membership, which is to be discussed by the 27 heads of state at the EU summit at the end of June.
In passing, Beaune stressed that Macron’s proposal was not an “alternative to joining the European political community. It does not prevent later accession.”
According to Macron’s plan, “there could be freedom of movement in Europe and he could benefit from the European budget for the reconstruction and reactivation of his country, society and economy,” he said.
ee (afp/efe)