Czech President Petr Pavel has reacted to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal to find “innovative solutions” to move Ukraine towards EU membership.
“I believe that the process of Ukraine’s accession to the EU should be as fast as possible, but without going beyond the current rules. All this should take place in accordance with the established conditions. Otherwise it would be contrary to Ukraine’s interests,” he said when asked whether he supported Merz’s idea.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo rejects Ukraine’s proposal to become an associate member of the EU.
“Either we take someone or we don’t. Today the European Union is not in the mood to take steps of this nature,” said Fitzo, quoted by the Dennikn daily.
Earlier, the European Commission confirmed to Radio Liberty the receipt of a letter from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling for “innovative solutions” to move Ukraine towards EU membership even before full-fledged accession.
The European Commission also said that enlargement is increasingly seen as a “geostrategic investment” in the security, peace and prosperity of the EU, and that Ukraine’s accession is “fundamentally linked to the security of the Union”.
At the same time, Brussels stressed that any “innovative solutions” should comply with the merit principle, i.e. depend on candidate countries fulfilling the necessary criteria.
Earlier, Radio Liberty reported that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in a letter to the EU leadership and the president of Cyprus, the current EU Council presidency, called for “fast progress” with Ukraine’s membership as “one of the main leaders among the candidate countries.”
In the document, Merz described EU enlargement as a geopolitical necessity, but recognised that the accession process “is taking too long”, causing growing frustration among both candidate countries and member states. That is why the chancellor suggested looking for “innovative solutions” due to the fact that Ukraine’s full-fledged accession to the EU might be delayed.