The Vice-President of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley, said that "Ukraine still has a long way to go" to become a member of the European Union.

This is reported by Tagesschau.

Barli emphasized that Ukraine must meet the same conditions as all other candidate countries for EU membership.

The politician clarified that it is about 

political and economic criteria, as well as compliance with the standards of European legal systems.

However, according to the vice-president of the EP, Ukraine is still far from fulfilling these three criteria.

She noted that the European Union should be realistic about Ukraine's accession and about Ukrainians.

After all, in the past, Brussels accepted individual countries into the EU too quickly. 

At the same time, Barley stressed that the EU will support Ukraine as much as it needs.

"We will support Ukraine with everything we can and have - especially financially and economically," the MEP said.

The politician also stated that

the European integration process of Ukraine should be fair

to other candidate countries, which have already carried out a number of necessary reforms.

According to Barley, the EU itself is not ready for expansion now, because certain structures need changes against the background of an increase in the number of member countries.

In particular, changes are needed regarding the collective decision, because now the principle of unanimity is in effect - that is, for the adoption of important decisions, not the consent of the majority is needed, but of absolutely all members.

We will remind you that the Ukraine-EU summit was held in Kyiv the day before.

In particular, it was attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who announced that Ukraine would become a member of the European Union and assured of assistance from the EC.

After talks with von der Leyen and members of the European Commission's collegium on January 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted at the start of negotiations on the country's EU membership in 2023.

Previously, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced the country's ambitious plans to join the EU in two years.

Read also:

  • Prystaiko believes that Ukraine will join the EU and NATO after the victory: "The conversation should be easy"

  • "The issue is resolved": the chairman of the EU Council made a statement on Ukraine's membership in the European Union

  • "It's real": Poland announced the condition for Ukraine's accession to the EU

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