President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola believes that the time frame for consideration of Ukraine's application for membership in the European Union will be significantly shorter than in other cases if the Ukrainian side promptly provides answers to questions of the European Commission.

Metsola expressed this opinion in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the promise made during her speech in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on March 1 to help Ukraine obtain candidate status.

"In Kyiv, I saw so many EU flags… For us, this is the moment to open our arms. I spoke with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kyiv that they are waiting for a list of questions, which should be received today or tomorrow. They hope to be able to answer them in four days. Olha told me (Olha Stefanishyna - Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration) that they need four days (to respond). Of course, then the ball is again on our side, and here the European Parliament comes into play. We will do our best to make every step. I think that if the Ukrainians provide us with answers very quickly, then the time frame will also be narrower than in other situations," explained the President of the European Parliament.

Metsola drew attention to the fact that candidate status gives the country access to many programs of the European Union.

"I know what it's like to be a candidate country when my country was a candidate (Malta became a member of the EU in 2004, official accession negotiations started in 2000) to join the European Union. Being a candidate is a huge amount of help that a country can receive in terms of infrastructure, cohesion, educational programs, access to all other EU programs and so on. And it will start immediately, which will also send a signal to Ukraine that we are serious," she said.

Speaking about the future donor conference for Ukraine, initiated by the leadership of the European Union, the President of the European Parliament said that there were no specific details of this event yet. At the same time, Metsola announced the possibility of holding a TEC-donors conference of companies such as Google.

"They would like to be able to help Ukraine not only financially, but also in terms of logistics. We can provide an opportunity for this to happen," she detailed, adding that such an event could take place at the ministerial level.

Another idea that Metsola discussed with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky with the aim of rebuilding Ukraine after the war, she called the help of sister cities.

"There will be a program, and this is also part of the status of the candidate, which is supposed to be European sister cities with yours. There is a huge interest of individual mayors in different European cities to financially help in the reconstruction of the partner city. This will be done at the city level when Ukraine wins this war," the President of the European Parliament explained.

Metsola said she will never forget how brave and courageous the Ukrainian people are.

"If we are even a little like them in our work, then we would be one step ahead in bringing peace and freedom to such a great people," Metsola said emotionally, adding "I made another promise to come to Kyiv with my husband and children when this is over. And my husband said - we must do this and take our children. You know, this is the first thing Zelensky asked me about - have you been to Ukraine before? I said no. And he answered: we must make sure that more people visit Ukraine."