The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, spoke in favor of Ukraine joining the EU by 2030 - on the condition that both parties do their "homework".
Michel said this in an interview with the Spiegel publication, European Pravda reports.
"Yes, Ukraine can become part of the EU in 2030, if both sides do their homework," Michel said.
According to him, Ukraine and other candidate countries should implement reforms, fight corruption and comply with the requirements of the law.
"We in the EU must clearly understand what we want to achieve together, where our priorities are and what we want to spend money on. And we need to speed up decision-making processes," added the head of the European Council.
Michel said that the EU cannot waste any more time.
"The countries of the Western Balkans, for example, have been waiting 20 years to join the EU, the influence of russia and China is increasing there. And a prosperous and safe Ukraine is in our own interests. Their resistance to russia showed that Ukraine should be in the EU. Ukraine should be in the EU. And soon, not someday. This would also prove that the EU is capable of geopolitical actions," the head of the European Council believes.
As you know, the issue of reform of the European Union is being actively discussed against the background of preparations for its expansion at the expense of the states of Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.
At the request of France and Germany, which are considered the most influential members of the European Union, 12 experts proposed a plan for structural reform of the union so that it would be ready to accept new states in the future.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, emphasized that EU reform should not be used to inhibit the acquisition of membership by new countries.
It will be recalled that at the beginning of the summer of this year, the Reuters agency reported with reference to European officials that Ukraine fulfilled two of the seven conditions necessary for the start of negotiations on EU membership.
At the same time, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in July that Ukraine is capable of achieving success on the way to EU membership if it maintains the pace of reforms.
And at the beginning of September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the Verkhovna Rada to work productively in order to pass the laws necessary for negotiations on EU membership.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on September 13, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called Hungary a "stumbling block" on the way to Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
And on October 2, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, said that the future borders of the EU will stretch from Lisbon to Luhansk.
Meanwhile, the European Union is preparing to hold negotiations with Ukraine regarding its future membership in the bloc. The talks are due to take place in December this year, despite the ongoing russian invasion.
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