Ukraine’s accession to the European Union may take many years, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
“We know that the EU accession process can take many years or even decades,” Macron said. At the same time, he noted that Ukraine is already a member of the European family. In order to speed up Ukraine’s participation in European affairs, he proposed creating a European political community that could accept it into its ranks.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said earlier that the European Commission is waiting to receive the second part of Ukraine’s questionnaire on admission to the European Union, a decision on whether to give Kiev candidate status will be made in June.
Earlier, Zelensky wrote on Twitter that Ukraine had submitted the second part of the questionnaire to Brussels. Kiev submitted the first part to Brussels on April 17.
The European Commission’s recommendation to the European Council to launch negotiations on admission to the bloc would be the first official step towards accession. Next, the country must agree with European negotiators on a set of conditions or “negotiation chapters” that it must fulfil. The negotiation process can take anywhere from a few years to an indefinitely long period. Finland was the fastest, taking 3 years, while Turkey has been the slowest after starting the talks in 2005 and still having no certain prospects for completing them.
