FT: The leaders of Germany, France and Italy will arrive in Kyiv on June 16. They will talk about the status of a candidate for EU membership

The Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi, the President of France Emmanuel Macron, and the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz will arrive in Kyiv on June 16. They will discuss granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union.

Financial Times reports on this, citing its own sources.

Officially, neither side has confirmed the visit of the three European leaders, but Babel sources say that at least Macron will definitely be in Kyiv on June 16 and will hold events for the media together with Zelensky.

The arrival of Macron, Scholz, and Draghi will take place the day before the expected adoption of the European Commissionʼs conclusion on granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership. According to sources in the publication, the European Commission plans to recommend granting Ukraine candidate status under condition it will implement certain reforms related to the rule of law and the fight against corruption.

At the same time, it is currently unknown whether these conditions must be met in order to obtain candidate status or after obtaining it to start formal accession negotiations. Diplomats in Brussels believe that the visit of the three European leaders to Kyiv is aimed at convincing other EU countries to grant Ukraine candidate status now, and to fulfill the conditions before the start of accession talks.