Ukraine hoping for EU candidate status within weeks, says Volodymyr Zelensky
- Zelensky on Monday handed the EU’s envoy to Ukraine responses to a membership questionnaire brought by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen
- ‘We believe that we will receive support for this work, become a candidate for admission, and then the next final stage will begin,’ Zelensky said
Ukraine is hoping to receive within weeks candidate country status for joining the European Union, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday as he held a meeting with the EU’s envoy to Ukraine in Kyiv.
Zelensky handed the envoy, Matti Maasikas, two volumes in response to a membership questionnaire brought by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to Ukraine this month.
“We believe that we will receive support for this work, become a candidate for admission, and then the next final stage will begin,” Zelensky told Maasikas, according to a video of the meeting on social media.
“We really believe that this procedure will take place in the coming weeks,” he said, adding that “our people … mentally have been in Europe for a long time”.
“Another step on Ukraine’s EU path,” Maasikas tweeted, together with photos of the meeting.
“Honoured to receive from @ZelenskyyUa the answers to @EU_Commission questionnaire, handed over by @vonderleyen only 10 days ago. Extraordinary times take extraordinary steps and extraordinary speed.”
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