Poland and Slovakia have decided together to persuade other countries to grant Ukraine candidate status

Poland and Slovakia plan to work together to persuade those bloc countries that are currently hesitant to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine.

This was stated at a joint press conference in Bratislava by Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová and Polish President Andrzej Duda, European Pravda reports.

"This is important for the future of Europe and for peace in Europe. This does not automatically mean full membership — of course; this will require meeting a number of criteria. But we believe that granting candidate status is a natural gesture in the difficult situation in which Ukraine now finds itself, "said Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

In his speech, Duda noted that Ukrainians are now defending not only their country but also their closest neighbors from the imperial ambitions of modern Russia.

"We know that it is very important for Ukrainian society now to feel that they are accepted in the West. That is why giving Ukraine the status of a candidate country for EU membership is so important… We have no doubt that Ukraine should get this status as soon as possible, and we will try to convince our colleagues," Duda said.

• On February 28, after the start of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for Ukraineʼs accession to the European Union.
• On April 8, in Kyiv, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, with a questionnaire on Ukraineʼs membership in the EU. Ukraine announced the first completed part on April 17, and the second on May 9.