EU Commission recommends opening accession negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova
- 9 November, 19:04
The European Union has recommended starting formal members talks with Ukraine once Kyiv meets final conditions.
“Today is a historic day,” commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday in the Commission’s enlargement report.
“Ukraine has completed … well over 90 percent of the necessary steps that we set out last year in our report,” von der Leyen said, referring to Kyiv’s justice and anti-corruption reforms among others.
She stressed that “Ukraine continues to face tremendous hardship and tragedy provoked by Russia’s war of aggression, and yet the Ukrainians are deeply reforming their country”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the EU Commission’s decision as a “strong and historic step that paves the way to a stronger EU with Ukraine as its member.” In a post on social media on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said: “Our country must be in the European Union. Ukrainians deserve it both for their defence of European values and for the fact that even in times of full-scale war, we keep our word.”
The same European Commission report recommended starting the accession process in Moldova.
Ukraine launched its bid to become part of the EU after Moscow’s invasion in February 2022 and was officially named a candidate to join in June that year.
