1 Jul 2022 12:30

Ukrainian president, PM, parliament speaker sign joint statement on attainment of full EU membership

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk signed a joint statement on the attainment of a full EU membership at a parliament meeting on Friday, Ukrainian media outlets said.

"We sign a joint statement here today to signal the unity of all power branches and to prove our determination to achieve the strategic objective of Ukraine, a full EU membership," Zelensky said at the Verkhovna Rada.

"The signing of this statement is as significant as the signing of an admission application. It took us 115 days to become a candidate, and our path to membership should not take years or decades. We should swiftly pass this path, and it depends on us how quickly this can be done. We should do our part of the job ideally to allow our friends in the EU to make yet another historic decision for us in an equally fast and consolidated manner," Zelensky said.

"The EU flag in this room is a symbol of the task all of us, all power branches have - there must be no pauses in our work. Every decision necessary for the European path of Ukraine must be made. The positive effect of these decisions must be felt by Ukrainian society, Ukrainian families, citizens," Zelensky said.

"The EU membership is not just geopolitics but also tangible things, tangible advantages for the life of every family, for every company," he said.

"Transport and aviation visa-free systems have been established just recently. We have received maximum access to the European market without duties or quotas. We are connected to the common European power grid," Zelensky said.

"Customs and digital visa-free systems are next, which means Ukraine will join the Digital Europe program. We should step up our work on industrial visa-free system and, of course, we should agree with EU countries on permanently scrapping roaming fees," he said.