There is good news during the war, too. Over the last 13 days, Ukraine has considerably boosted the European integration process. The key reason why this is happening is that the EU finally realized that our state is not a mere borderland, but Europe’s outpost that shields it from willfulness and dictatorship. Currently, it’s our country that protects Europe from insanity of the Russian government, which brings the world back to the WWII era – or maybe even tries to start WWIII.
On February 28, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Head of the Ukrainian Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal signed the application for Ukraine to join the EU. At the same time, Brussels sent signals that the application may be considered in turbo mode. And soon, Ukraine will obtain the status of EU membership candidate. Why would someone talk about these things during the war, when there are much more essential matters, such as support of the army? The thing is, we need to be considering the future reconstruction of our country. It will take a lot of money, and the status of the membership candidate will let Ukraine reach a lot of EU stocks.
However, the money is still not the most important in this situation. It’s about the final recognition of the fact that Ukraine is Europe. This is where the border between the democracy and dictatorship lies. Lech Wałęsa, the Noble prize laureate, leader of Solidarnosc party and the ex-president of Poland said so recently. «The fate of Europe and the entire world will depend on you. This is a dangerous task but I assume that the EU will quickly accept you [as member state], to support and help you. I will be working on it. You deserve the biggest recognition and the largest support», he reiterated.
At the same time, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed that this week, one should expect important news about Ukraine’s application for membership in the EU. According to him, certain countries that previously did not support Ukraine’s entry have changed their stance after the Russian invasion. However, he never specified what these countries are. «The situation has changed. For now, I will not tell you which actual countries are skeptic. But some of the countries who took a negative stance are supporting us now - for real. Some still don’t [support us]. But let’s hold on. This week, there will be serious news related to our membership in the EU», Dmytro Kuleba said. «A week ago, the distance between us and the EU was equal to the distance from Kyiv to the moon, and now, our [EU] entry is within the distance from Kyiv to Vinnytsia», he added.
On Monday, the EU ambassadors discussed Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia’s applications for entry and asked the European Commission to consider the requests of these countries and provide their evaluation. Now, the French leadership in the EU will send three letters to the European Commission, asking to assess the applications of three countries. President of the European Council Charles Michel confirmed that, adding that «the EU solidarity, friendship and unprecedented assistance for Ukraine are unwavering».
