Ruslan Stefanchuk met with the President of the Republic of Austria Alexander van der Bellen in Vienna

Informatiion Department
Published on 15 June 2022, at 10:13

“It is not because of the war that Ukrainians want to join the European community because they understand that this will not stop the enemy. They want this because they share the values ??and principles of the European Union.”

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk met with the President of the Republic of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, in Vienna.

The parties discussed the prospect of granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union.

In this context, the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine assured the President of Austria that Ukrainians understand all the difficulties of the way forward and are ready to work on fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria.

"They will work on it no worse than they know how to defend and defend against the russian federation," underlined Ruslan Stefanchuk.

He expressed gratitude to the Austrian people for the high level of support given to our country. He brought to attention the common things that connect Ukraine and Austria – "historical, cultural and emotional."

The Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada also wished the President of Austria victory in the upcoming presidential elections to be held in September this year.

"The 70,000 Ukrainians who have taken refuge in Austria today will root for it especially. I very much hope that by this time, they will do it from peaceful Ukraine, having returned to their homes," Ruslan Stefanchuk said.

In turn, the President of Austria noted that six countries have already received candidate status but have not yet become members of the EU and, in this regard, expressed the view that the European Union should "seriously reconsider the EU accession procedure" because the current procedure is “bureaucratic and too complicated."

According to the President of Austria, there is no doubt that Ukraine belongs to Europe.

"Given the events in the recent history of Ukraine, I consider granting candidate status to Ukraine useful and necessary, and it is also a signal to russia," said Alexander van der Bellen.

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada handed over to the President and his wife drawings of Ukrainian children so that "there will always be a memory of Ukraine's future, which wants to see its home in a common Europe."