A two-day summit of EU heads of state and government will start in Brussels today, June 23. The main topics of the meeting are Russiaʼs invasion of the territory of an independent state, as well as granting Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for EU membership.
This is reported on the website of the European Council.
EU leaders will discuss "the current development of the Russian war against Ukraine", including its impact on the global food security crisis.
The summit will also discuss providing Ukraine with economic, military, political and humanitarian assistance.
The leaders of the EU countries will consider Ukraineʼs, Moldovaʼs and Georgiaʼs applications for EU membership as a separate issue. The statement reminds that Ukraine applied for accession to the EU on February 28, 2022, and Georgia and Moldova — on March 3, 2022.
The European Commission published its official opinion on the applications of these countries on June 17, 2022.
Before the summit, EU leaders will hold an informal meeting with political leaders in the Western Balkans to discuss prospects for the regionʼs European integration.
- Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishina stated that the EU countries fully agree to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine.
- On June 17, the European Commission recommended that Ukraine be granted the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union, and that this decision should be supported by the EU countries (voting will take place at the summit on June 23-24). The European Commission has also approved certain conditions that Ukraine must meet in order to start formal accession negotiations.