EU waiting to receive Zelensky's request for immediate membership for consideration

BRUSSELS. Feb 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The European Union has said it expects that the request of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to urgently grant Ukraine membership in the Community will arrive in the very near future, after which the procedure for its consideration will begin.

This was announced on condition of anonymity on Monday in Brussels by a high-ranking European official.

Answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine about the actions of the EU in terms of considering Zelensky's request, he said: "We are aware of this. Yesterday I spoke directly with the Minister of Foreign Affairs seven or nine times. I understand that the application is at its final stage preparation. I expect that we will most likely receive it as soon as possible. Then, and this is quite obvious, the procedure will begin - the council will consider the application very quickly to decide whether to make a request for an urgent opinion with side of the European Commission. Therefore, it is quite clear what the procedure is. So we expect to receive an application as soon as possible."

He also detailed the procedure itself in its classical form.

"Let me start with the legal aspect. Article 49 of the Treaty makes it very clear that any European country that shares the fundamental values ​​and principles of the Community can apply for membership. Further, in terms of procedure, it also indicated in this article. First, to whom the application should be sent? According to the Treaty, the application must be sent to the Council. That means the presidency. Now it is France. Then the Council will inform about the application. At the same time, we must inform the European parliament and national parliaments," the European official said.

The next step, he said, is for the General Affairs Council to decide whether to seek the opinion of the European Commission on the application.

"If they do this, then the Commission, and usually it takes - again - I don't want to talk about urgency - this is a classic procedure - from 15 to 18 months - will provide its opinion. It can be longer and can be much faster, given the political a necessity. I think one of the reasons why this is important for Zelensky is that (it can be used) potentially in discussions with Russia to find a way out (of the war).The EU is a project that is based on the basis of peace and conflict resolution through dialogue," he stressed.

According to a high-ranking European, the issue of what is happening in Ukraine "is constantly on the minds of our leaders."

“President Michel, for example, is going to Paris tonight, where he will have dinner with President Macron, as well as German Chancellor Scholz. Ms. von der Leyen will also be there. I am sure that this issue will be a subject of discussion. We will have an informal EU summit on March 11. I can imagine that the topic of Ukraine will be discussed," he added.

As previously reported, on Monday, Ukrainian President Zelensky said that Ukraine had applied to the European Union with a request for urgent accession under a special procedure.

"We appeal to the European Union for the urgent accession of Ukraine under a new special procedure. We are grateful to our partners for being by our side, but our dream is to be together with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be on an equal footing," he said.