This past Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, sounded the call for his country’s immediate entry as a member of the European Union.
“We ask the European Union for Ukraine’s immediate accession via a new special procedure,” Zelensky stated in a post on his Telegram channel, as reported by Politico. “Our goal is to be together with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be on an equal footing. I’m sure it’s fair. I’m sure it’s possible.”
Previously, Zelensky put forth calls to seek entrance into the European bloc in the wake of Russia launching a full-scale invasion on his country this past week. This past Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, pledged their support for the addition of Ukraine to the EU as part of a more expedited and simplified process. It is currently unclear how any such process would work.
“We have a process with Ukraine that is, for example, integrating the Ukrainian market into the single market,” von der Leyen stated to Euronews. “We have very close cooperation on the energy grid, for example. So many topics where we work very closely together and indeed over time, they belong to us. They are one of us and we want them in.”
The commission chief of the EU went on to add that the bloc’s trust in Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, has been “completely broken and eroded.” She then went on to express her doubt concerning the outcome of the peace talks that would take place between Ukraine and Russia that began on Monday.
“Of course, it is important that the Ukrainian side agrees to the peace talks and that conditions are fine for the Ukrainian side. In general, it is always better to have peace talks than to have a fight. But the trust in President Putin is completely broken and eroded,” she claimed.
In the wake of von der Leyen’s comments, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal issued a tweet that the time had finally come to “put this down on paper.”
“Ukrainians have long proved that we are all an integral part of the European community. It’s time to put this down on paper. Ukraine applies for admission to EU under a special procedure. We are grateful to our partners for their support and quick decisions,” stated Shmyhal.
Українці давно довели, що всі ми – невід'ємна частина європейської спільноти. Прийшов час закріпити це на папері. #Україна подає заявку на вступ до #ЄС за спеціальною процедурою. Вдячні партнерам за підтримку і швидкі рішення.
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) February 28, 2022
Zelensky officially and formally put his pen to the application to join the bloc early on Monday. Said application could take many years to process and approve, however, even as Russia continues to push its assault to try and topple the Ukrainian Government.
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