Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Olena Kondratiuk: We clearly understand that holding a candidature is only the first step towards full membership in the European Union
24 June 2022, 15:28
"Incredibly good news for Ukraine!
We have the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union!," this was stated by Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk,
She also stressed that we clearly understand that holding a candidature is only the first step towards full membership in the European Union.
"A difficult path ahead of us, the duration of which depends on ourselves.
This path has two important components:
1 Ukraine must achieve high EU standards in all spheres of political and public life. First, key issues like human and citizen freedoms, the rule of law, free speech, further law enforcement agencies’ and judiciary reforms.
A separate block is the final bringing of Ukrainian legislation into line with European. I consider this task the main one for the Ukrainian Parliament.
The economy and energy of our state should become integral components of the European.
2 The second component is to open a dialogue with all member states of the European Union to close all open bilateral issues and achieve their agreement on Ukraine's membership in the EU. And here, we can in no way talk about adaptation but about finding common interests and achieving mutually acceptable results.
Speaking of the near future, we need to work closely with the countries that will chair the EU Council in the near future, namely the Czech Republic and Sweden.
You will probably be interested to know that Ukraine and Ukrainian issues will be the main priority of the Czech Republic during its presidency of the EU Council, which begins on July 1st. We also have to plan their presidency together with the Swedish partners.
What do I want to emphasize?
For the first time, the Ukrainian state has used massive, multilevel, and multilateral diplomacy to achieve the goal of obtaining Ukraine's candidate status for accession to the European Union.
This is, without a doubt, an unprecedented case in the history of Ukrainian diplomacy, when the diplomatic synergy of the President and his office, the Ukrainian Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was planned and used. I want to thank all my colleagues for this inspiring work together. Especially Ruslan Stefanchuk and Oleksandr Korniyenko, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Olga Stefanivska, and Maria Mezentseva.
Today, I would like to mention the importance and necessity of reviving professional parliamentary diplomacy, which must fully prove itself for Ukraine to receive the status of a candidate.
This is a requirement of time, which, despite all the complexity, shows that when we act in harmony and united front – we win!" Olena Kondratiuk emphasized commenting on granting the status of a candidate for EU members to Ukraine.