EU Will Consider Granting Ukraine Status Of Candidate For EU Membership In June - Stefanishyna

The European Union will consider granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union at a summit of leaders in June.

Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, announced this on the air of the national telethon, commenting on the results of the visit to Ukraine on Friday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative Josep Borrell, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"We received today an official document that symbolizes the first stage of joining the European Union - this is a decision that the European Commission will prepare on Ukraine's compliance with the membership criteria. Before that, countries had been on their way to the EU for years. We did a lot of work before the war, so the preparation of the European Commission document lasted only a few weeks and already in June, when the leaders' summit will take place, on the basis of the work that we will carry out, a decision will be made to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union, which opens up financial opportunities," she said.

Thus, she commented on the official transfer by the European Commission to Ukraine on Friday of a questionnaire that Ukraine must fill out and on the basis of which the European Commission must conclude and convey EU recommendations on granting Ukraine candidate status.

Stefanishyna also noted that during the visit of EU representatives, the issue of providing military assistance to Ukraine was considered.

For the first time, the European Union decided to provide funding for the procurement of weapons, allocates EUR 1.5 billion for this, and the EU leadership confirmed that this money will be directed to the most important needs of the Ukrainian army.

The issue of providing Ukrainians who left for the European Union because of the war with access to education, medicine, and social services was also discussed.

In addition, EU representatives announced a large program of financial support for Ukraine, agreed that the EU will help Ukraine financially throughout the entire period of hostilities so that Ukrainians do not feel problems with social and pension security.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on March 18, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the conclusion of the European Commission on Ukraine's application for EU membership would be prepared within a few months.

On February 28, Zelenskyy signed an application for Ukraine's membership in the EU.

On March 1, the European Parliament recommended granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for joining the EU.

Filling out the European Commission questionnaire is a necessary stage for granting Ukraine the status of a candidate.