Prime Minister of Ireland for Ukraine's accelerated accession to EU
Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin believes that Ukraine should join the EU as soon as possible.
He said this speaking at a conference of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Censor.NET reports, citing European Truth.
Martin stressed that from the very beginning he had been an "ardent supporter" of Ukraine's accession to the EU and that he generally supported a "faster and faster" accession process.
The head of the Irish government said that he "quite understands" that Ukraine's future lies in the European Union.
Martin believes that EU leaders should grant Ukraine candidate status in June. Opponents argue that this would be unfair to some countries in the Western Balkans, for which the accession process has been seriously delayed in recent years.
But Martin stressed that even before "any war", he was critical of the slow pace of the accession process, especially with regard to Northern Macedonia and Albania.
"I believe that in general we need to speed up the accession process," he said.
With regard to Ukraine in particular, Martin said that "there will be cooperation", as has been the case with Ireland for a long time before it became a member of the EU, but "in the shortest possible time - this is what I would expect."
"Because I think we are going through a historic moment, the whole of Europe and democracies are saying that there are enough authoritarian regimes. Democracy cannot retreat forever, and the most effective way for democracies to strengthen and maintain their line is to be together and work together," he said.
There have been recent reports that Ukraine is being offered only potential candidate status, but this has raised objections in Kyiv, including an unprecedented appeal by Ukrainian NGOs to the EU.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Negammer has called for the creation of a "European Preparatory Zone", that will allow Ukraine and Moldova to move closer to EU standards.
