"KYIV, Ukraine -- The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania endorsed Ukraine's bid to join the European Union and pledged additional weapons as they met Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi traveled together to Kyiv by train at a moment when Kyiv has been pleading for more Western military support. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis later joined the group in a meeting with Mr. Zelensky and at a news conference where Mr. Macron announced that all four European leaders backed Ukraine becoming a member of the EU.
"This will change the history of Europe," Mr. Macron said. "All four of us support the immediate EU candidate status."
Ukraine needs the unanimous support of other leaders in the 27-nation economic bloc to set in motion the long and painstaking process for becoming a member. Even if approved, it could take months or even years for actual negotiations to start. The issue has been divisive among EU capitals, especially in Western European countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands, where opposition to enlarging the bloc has meant that no new country has joined the EU since Croatia almost a decade ago.
Still, the backing of the EU's largest economies creates diplomatic momentum heading into next week's EU summit in Brussels, where the issue will be discussed. It also sends a signal to Moscow that Ukraine's economic future could be with Europe and the West.
Mr. Scholz on Thursday said Ukraine could belong to the European family and that it would get Germany's support on the way to joining the EU, adding that there were strict criteria to be fulfilled in the process. The EU has called for further progress in rooting out corruption in Ukraine and deeper overhauls of the country's economy and justice system.
Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to make the changes necessary to join the bloc.
The leaders' visit was being closely watched in Ukraine and in capitals across Europe, where divisions have begun to emerge over sanctions.
Paris and Berlin see diplomacy as the only way to ultimately resolve the problems and find a long-term security arrangement. That stance was underscored Wednesday when Mr. Macron said Ukraine and its allies would have to hold talks with Russia.
The divide was thrown into relief earlier this month when the French leader came under criticism in Eastern Europe for an interview he gave to French newspapers, saying: "We must not humiliate Russia so that we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means."
On Thursday, Mr. Macron tried to soften his message. He said he only wanted to avoid mistakes that were made a century ago when, in the wake of World War I, France squeezed concessions out of Germany that Mr. Macron said humiliated the country
On Thursday, Mr. Macron said France planned to send six more truck-mounted howitzers to Ukraine. Various Western countries have pledged assistance to Ukraine in recent weeks, promising deliveries of heavy weapons and financial aid for the purposes of reconstruction. But Kyiv says the supplies aren't enough, and analysts say much of the equipment promised hasn't arrived.” [1]
Turkey is a candidate for EU membership from 1999. There is a lot of time to spent in that smelly bathroom for big countries.
1. The Ukraine Crisis: Kyiv's Bid to Join EU Is Endorsed
Luxmoore, Matthew; Meichtry, Stacy; Pancevski, Bojan.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 17 June 2022: A.8.
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