Plenković on Ukraine’s accelerated accession to EU: Will open discussion on other candidate countries
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković believes that developing a new approach to Ukraine's accession to the EU is possible, but the complexity of this process should not be underestimated.
He said this at the Ukrainian Lunch on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, according to EP, as reported by Censor.NET.
The decision will affect not only Ukraine
Plenković commented on European Commissioner Marta Kos' statement that Europe needs to develop a new approach to enlargement in order to enable Ukraine's rapid "geopolitical" accession to the EU.
"But this requires a political decision. And it will be a real breakthrough, a decision of great significance, because it will not be about Ukraine. Because if the 'accelerated approach' is introduced, it will open up a discussion about all other candidate countries," said the head of the Croatian government.
He also explained that the accession of Ukraine and several other countries will influence European decision-making processes.
"Ukraine is a very large country, slightly smaller than Spain in terms of votes," Plenković added.
In addition, according to the politician, it is necessary to take into account Ukraine's impact on the EU budget and key European funds.
"Most member states support accession, but we must proceed with caution from a technical standpoint so as not to create a significant imbalance within the EU," stated the Croatian prime minister.
"A creative approach that will allow this to be done is possible, but I would like to point out that this is an extremely complex and delicate process. We cannot assume that the decision is already in the bag at a stage when there are only discussions in the media or even some initial drafts of documents," added Plenković.
"Креативний підхід, який дозволить це зробити – можливий, але я зазначаю, що це надзвичайно складний і тонкий процес. Не можна сприймати, ніби рішення вже у кишені, на етапі, коли є лише обговорення у ЗМІ або навіть якісь перші драфти документів", - додав Пленкович.
