Ukraine demands 'political clarity' from EU by end of 2022; 'We need to understand...'

As the brutal conflict between Russia and Ukraine goes unabated, with Kremlin's troops intensifying their invasion and Ukrainian forces putting up tough resilience, Kyiv has now demanded "political clarity" from European Union leaders by the end of 2022 on joining the bloc. The war-battered country has fulfilled almost 70% of its legal obligations under the Association Agreement with the bloc and is aware of the fact that all the remaining legal procedures for membership in the European Union are to be completed by the end of this year, said Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Olha Stefanishyna, reported Ukrinform.

While speaking at the opening of the communication campaign "Together, we are Europe," Stefanishyna stated that the people of Ukraine want to know how long and difficult the path to membership in the block will be. She further emphasised that Ukraine needs "political clarity" over its membership in the EU.

Ukraine seeks ‘political clarity’ from EU on joining bloc

"We need to understand how long and difficult our path to membership in the European Union will be, not only in terms of the negotiations. We will have to fulfil the necessary components to join the EU. We have the energy and desire for this. The only thing we need that is missing is political clarity regarding further steps," Stefanishyna said.

The leader for the European Integration of Ukraine reiterated that the war-battered country does not want to get involved in the bureaucratic procedure to join the bloc. Given the ongoing war situation with Russia and the fact that Ukraine has already fulfilled 70% of the documentation process, evaluation from scratch is not necessary at this time, she said. However, the political decisions can not be ignored, and Ukraine now wants "clarity" on the matter by the end of this year, reported Ukrinform.

"We do not want the process of our joining the EU to be bureaucratic. Of course, as a state, we demonstrate our ability to go through all the necessary legal procedures related to membership as much as possible, but we do not want politicians and EU leaders to drag this process into bureaucracy. Taking into account those challenges Ukraine is facing and the fact that the commitment of the Ukrainian people and Ukraine to the principles of democracy is evident, as well as the fact that we have fulfilled almost 70% of all obligations under the Association Agreement, all of this gives us an opportunity to say that it is not necessary to evaluate us from scratch, but it is necessary to take political decisions. And we want to get such political clarity by the end of the year," said the Deputy Prime Minister. It is pertinent to note here that the European Union's Heads of State and Government had approved the request to grant Ukraine EU candidate status on June 23, 2022. 

Image: AP/Reprsenatative