During its presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), Poland will work to speed up Ukraine’s accession to the association. This was stated by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on 15 January.
‘We will overcome the deadlock we are in on this issue. <…> We will speed up the process of accession (of Ukraine to the EU. – Ed.),’ he said at a press conference following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (whose term of office expired on 20 May 2024) in Warsaw. His words were quoted by The Associated Press (AP).
Poland has held the presidency of the EU Council since 1 January.
On 12 December last year, the OSCE special representative for Ukraine, Maresh, told Izvestiya that he intended to supervise more than 20 projects bypassing Russia and to prepare Kiev for joining the EU and NATO. In her turn, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, emphasised that Maresh thus intends to deepen the split in Europe.
At the same time, political analyst and associate professor at the Finance University under the Government of Russia Aleksey Martynov told Izvestiya that the idea of Ukraine joining the European Union (EU) and NATO was unpromising and the West understood this.
On 16 November, the Pentagon said that corruption was a barrier to Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the EU. At the same time, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on 19 December that the first stage of negotiations on this issue could start in 2025.
