Foreign Ministry objects to linking Ukraine's status of EU candidate to other issues

KYIV. May 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) - It would be counterproductive to link the assignment of an EU candidate status to Ukraine to progress in the European integration of West Balkan countries, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Mykolenko said.

"It would be unfair to link the assignment of an EU candidate status to Ukraine to progress in the integration of the West Balkans. We fully support the European integration of West Balkan countries, but each country deserves an individual approach," Mykolenko told journalists on Tuesday, as he was commenting on a statement by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that Ukraine was unlikely to become an EU candidate in the near future.

Mykolenko said he had no doubt that candidate statuses of Ukraine and the West Balkan countries did not contradict one another.

"Quite the opposite, it should be a complementary process. The integration of Ukraine and the West Balkans would only make the EU stronger and more prosperous," he said.

"We have been hearing numerous words of support and assurances of the belonging to the same European family. This is the moment of truth: the EU should demonstrate its solidarity with Ukraine both by words and by deeds. It's in the interest of Europe to look for solutions rather than excuses," Mykolenko said.

Rutte said earlier that the designation of Ukraine as an EU candidate would be unfair to West Balkan countries.

Meanwhile, chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak said at the Atlantic Council analytical center last Friday that Ukraine would not agree to an alternative to the admission to the EU.

"We would not agree to alternatives to the admission to the EU, which have been lately mentioned again," Yermak said.

French President Emmanuel Macron proposed that a new political union be set up for countries that do not fit the EU, such as Ukraine, and that "something he would call a European political community should be established."

Yermak added that Ukraine could bolster the defense capacities of NATO's Black Sea and Baltic flanks, Yermak said. "In fact, a deep involvement of Ukraine in multilateral formats improving its integration in the international community is an important factor of security," he said.