Ukraine implementing recommendations to enable EU accession talks: Zelenskyy

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that Kyiv has been implementing the seven recommendations given by the European Commission to enable talks on his country’s EU accession.

“Ukraine has been implementing the seven recommendations of the European Commission as quickly as possible to enable a political decision to open accession negotiations already this year,” Zelenskyy said in a video address at the meeting of the College of the European Commission.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine wants “no trace of the gray geopolitical zone to remain,” adding that his country has done much more than expected “from a country that has been subjected to full-scale aggression.”

“But Ukraine is not asking for political discounts – we demonstrate the necessary political pace. We share the approach that decisions should be based on the individual achievements of countries that seek to become members of the European Union,” he said.

Zelenskyy went on to define being ready for a political decision to start negotiations on Ukraine’s EU membership this year as a top priority, adding that he hopes this to be the case for the EU as well.

“We have laid a solid basis for this. The goal now is very special. If we can get rid of gray geopolitical zones, we must do it! Europe needs the European Union. And let Ukrainian optimism about the EU serve a more stable future for the whole of Europe!” he said.

Kyiv officially applied for EU membership on Feb. 28, 2022, four days after the start of the war with Russia that Moscow calls a "special military operation."

The European Commission issued its opinion on the application of Ukraine's EU membership on June 17 last year, after which the European Council granted Kyiv candidate status.

Last December, Ukraine's parliament adopted several bills recommended by the European Commission to further the country's EU accession process.