Von der Leyen’s surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine’s EU accession assessment nearing completion
China News Service, June 12 (Xinhua) According to comprehensive foreign media news, on the 11th local time, European Commission President von der Leyen made a surprise visit to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and promised that the EU would complete the evaluation of Ukraine’s application for EU membership by “next weekend”.
On the same day, Von der Leyen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At a news conference after the meeting, Von der Leyen said he wanted to support “Ukraine’s European tour”, adding that “today’s discussion will be our assessment by the end of next week.”
She also said that the European Commission is preparing to recommend Ukraine’s membership to EU member states.
Ukraine officially became an associated country of the EU in 2017. After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Ukraine’s application to join the EU on February 28, 2022, calling on the EU to initiate “new special procedures” to quickly absorb Ukraine.
In March, the EU ruled out Ukraine’s fast-track accession. On May 9, Zelensky announced that the Uzbek side had submitted the text of the second part of the questionnaire on the application for EU candidate status. On June 8, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba said that Ukraine would not accept any alternative to becoming an EU candidate.
(Original title: Von der Leyen’s surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine’s EU accession assessment is about to be completed)