EU leaders in Brussels are expected to sign last week’s recommendation from the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch. After several days of internal discussions in the EU, no opposition has emerged between the 27 member states, three diplomats told Reuters. read more “We are working to the point where we will tell (Russian President Vladimir Putin) that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told reporters before a meeting with others. EU ministers. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Moldova is also almost certain to become a candidate country, diplomats said, although Georgia must meet certain conditions, namely overcoming the country’s political stalemate. A French presidential official, whose country leads the EU until the end of June, told reporters that he was confident that none of the 27 would block the candidacy for Ukraine and Moldova. “We are forging consensus. At the moment I can not say that all 27 have agreed, but there is a reasonable hope that an agreement on Ukraine and Moldova will be reached quickly in the EU Council.” France’s European Minister Clement Bonn told reporters after a ministerial meeting in Brussels that there was an “absolute consensus” between the 27, but it would not be up to the heads of state to confirm it. Despite some doubts among the northern EU countries that it is unrealistic to accept Ukraine, which is suffering from endemic corruption, the Danish Foreign Minister said that he welcomes her candidacy. “It’s very good and it’s something that Denmark wholeheartedly supports; we want to help Ukraine achieve its European dream,” Jeppe Kofod told reporters in Luxembourg. While the candidacy would signal a strategic shift eastward from the EU in the run-up to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Kyiv would probably take years to become a member of the bloc, if at all. Ukraine already has a free trade agreement with the EU, but applied for membership a few days after the Russian invasion. Moscow says its “special military operation” was partly necessary because of the West’s invasion of what it describes as its legitimate geographical sphere of influence. Putin has so far downplayed the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Bart Meijer, Francesco Guarascio, Robin Emmott and John Irish. Edited by: Alison Williams, William Maclean Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
