Kuleba: Ukraine does not need "surrogates" for EU candidate status
"EVROPEYSKA PRAVDA" — THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022, 12:15 PM
Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, says that Ukraine expects to obtain EU candidate status, and perceives as offensive any attempts to propose other formats instead.
He stated this on his Twitter account, writes "Evropeyska pravda".
"Strategic ambiguity on Ukraine’s European perspective practised by some EU capitals in past years has failed and must end," Kuleba said.
"This only emboldened Putin," he said.
"We do not need surrogates for EU candidate status that indicate second-class treatment of Ukraine and hurt the feelings of Ukrainians," the Minister of Foreign Affairs said.
Background: the President of the European Council Charles Michel proposed creating a new political platform for European cooperation which would be open to Ukraine, and will put this issue on the agenda of the EU summit in late June.
He insisted that this new initiative should not replace the expansion of the European Union - a process that has slowed down in recent years, but which Michel proposes to significantly intensify.
The first to come up with such an idea was Emmanuel Macron: France [currently holds] the presidency of the Council of the European Union and he suggested a format of cooperation that could include European countries outside the European Union, such as Ukraine and Britain.
Strategic ambiguity on Ukraine’s European perspective practiced by some EU capitals in the past years has failed and must end. It only emboldened Putin. We do not need surrogates for EU candidate status that show second-class treatment of Ukraine and hurt feelings of Ukrainians.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 19, 2022
At the same time, Macron expressed the opinion that Ukraine will need a very long time to become a member of the European Union.
Read also: Dmytro Kuleba: Victory for Ukraine will be the liberation of Crimea and Donbas.
