6 Mar 2023 14:56

Zelensky at meeting with European Parliament President Metsola: Ukraine seeks to join EU

MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky expects that talks on Ukraine's accession to the European Union would start as early as this year; he made such statement following a meeting with President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola on Friday, Ukrainian media outlets reported citing his social network pages.

"On March 1 of the last year, on the second day after we applied to join the EU, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on support and the need to grant a status of candidate for the EU membership to Ukraine. Ukraine aspires to complete the implementation of the European Commission's recommendations as soon as possible and start negotiations on the accession to the EU as early as this year," Zelensky said.

The parties discussed the prospects of operation of the Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Ukraine, which, according to them, would contribute to strengthening of cooperation and acceleration of European integration process.

Metsola, for her part, has pointed out that the future of Ukraine is membership in the EU. "When we say Ukraine is Europe and Europe is Ukraine, that means that accession negotiations need to start as soon as possible and it means, hopefully, by the end of this year. We are impressed with the progress that the Ukrainians have made with the recommendations of the European Commission," she said at a press briefing in Lvov.