Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced Thursday his nation will maintain a strict schedule for European Union membership negotiations and fulfill its commitments to the 27-member organization.
The president’s remarks came one day after Cyprus, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, announced it had begun preparations to launch negotiations on the initial set of discussion topics with Ukraine and Moldova. The opening chapter focuses on democratic standards and rule-of-law requirements.
“We will have a very clear schedule for moving forward in these talks, especially after changes in Hungary,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“We have kept to the schedule and now in June we very much expect the opening of (negotiating) clusters for which Ukraine has prepared. We have done our part of the work. The next step is up to the European Union.”
The decision to advance with negotiations followed Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s announcement that his nation had resolved disagreements with Kiev regarding the rights of Ukraine’s 100,000-strong ethnic Hungarian community.
Magyar had earlier stated that resolving the longstanding disagreement was necessary for Budapest to support Ukraine’s EU admission. His predecessor, nationalist Viktor Orban, had blocked Ukrainian EU membership efforts.
Zelenskiy has consistently advocated for Ukraine’s EU membership as a way to establish Western principles in his country during more than four years of conflict with Russia.
The president noted that Ukrainian representatives maintain daily communication with EU officials regarding membership plans, calling this contact “important for our motivation.”
Zelenskiy also mentioned that Ukraine was meeting with European officials to explore strengthening his nation’s air defense systems, coordinating Russian sanctions, and collaborative weapons manufacturing.
