French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna has assured that the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron to create a European political union is not an alternative to Ukraine joining the European Union. She said this at a joint briefing with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"We wanted to offer today not opportunities, but guarantees of enhanced cooperation within the EU, which in no case is an alternative, but only augmented mechanisms, instruments of solidarity and coordination, so that Ukraine is already involved in the European integration space. That is why the idea of creating such a European political union was put forward. We will also talk about such an idea, in particular with President Zelenskyy," she said.
Colonna also noted that France supports granting Ukraine the status of a EU member state candidate and is working with partners to ensure that there is agreement among the EU member states and this application of Ukraine is adopted on the basis of the conclusions of the European Commission, which are expected in mid-June.
She stressed that France wants that Ukraine, in integrating into the EU, follows a quick procedure.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on Monday, the French Foreign Minister is visiting Ukraine.
Earlier, Macron took the initiative to create a "European political community" so that countries that are not formal members of the EU, but share European values, can get new opportunities for cooperation, and French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune said that the process of Ukraine's accession to the European Union could take 15 or 20 years.
Ukraine criticized Macron's initiative, perceiving it as a reluctance to accept Ukraine into the EU and a proposal for some kind of alternative.
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