The Ukrainian president has signed an application to join the European Union and expressed the desire to do so immediately.
For yet another night, brave Ukrainian forces managed to keep Russian invaders at bay and make them suffer heavy losses while protecting the capital of Kyiv.
Amid Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky has repeatedly called on the West to help Ukraine fight off Russia by sending troops and weapons even though Russia’s Putin has warned there would be dire consequences for anyone meddling in his war.
Now, Zelensky has also submitted an application for Ukraine to join the European Union.
While the process of joining the EU typically takes several years due to the number of laws and agreements that need to be considered, Ukraine has called “for the immediate accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure.”
The application comes after European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told Euronews that Ukraine “are one of us and we want them in” as she spoke of EU-Ukraine relations on Sunday.
Since Ukraine’s application, however, Leyen appeared to rephrase her narrative with her spokesperson saying the chief wanted to point out that Ukraine “is a European country and we want them in, meaning Europe in general.”
Further wrecking Ukraine’s hopes for a fast-tracked process of joining the EU, Leyen’s spokesperson Eric Mamer added: “She then also specified that there is a process (for joining the EU). And I think that this is the important point.”
Suggesting there was no easy way to go about this was also European Council President Charles Michel who said EU members already have existing disagreements about new members joining the union.
Furthermore, there is no fast-tracked process when it comes to joining the EU, whereas the entire procedure may take several years to finalize.
Currently, five candidates for joining the EU are stuck in limbo after years of little to no progress in negotiations. The candidate countries include Turkey, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
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