Zelenskyy calls on EU leaders to agree opening of remaining 5 negotiating clusters in June

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at a meeting of the European Council, has called on EU leaders to open the remaining five clusters in the accession negotiation process with Ukraine in June, before the end of Cyprus's presidency.

Source: Zelenskyy's address

Details: Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine is actively working to become a full member of the EU and has paid a high price for this, greater than anyone else.

"The most important such step could be a fast-track – I know that not everybody loves it, but, sorry, I already wrote it, so I will tell it – a fast-track path for Ukraine to join the EU," the president said.

Zelenskyy noted that Kyiv is ready to carry out the necessary reforms for this, and this is clearly defined, but "the lack of a clear decision on Ukraine in the EU continues to encourage Russian interference".

"If Ukraine gets real membership, and gets it quickly – I hope – Russia will lose one of its main reasons for trying to destabilise both Ukraine and Europe. That is why this fast-way path for Ukraine is very needed," Zelenskyy argued.

He called for ensuring the swiftest possible opening of the remaining five negotiating clusters after Ukraine and Moldova opened the first ones.

"We can open the other 5 clusters as well. Everything is already prepared, and this can be done in the coming weeks. I hope so. We believe this might be possible, maybe as soon as possible, maybe during the Cyprus presidency – the best way. I'm not asking for me, it's for Cyprus. It's very symbolic for both of us," he said.

Cyprus's presidency of the Council of the EU runs until the end of June, after which it will pass to Ireland.

Background:

• It later emerged that the hopes of Ukraine and its supporters within the EU for the swift opening of clusters were not confirmed by the decision of the EU summit.
• Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar earlier boasted that he had "struck out" swift accession from the EU summit decision.
• Before that, he had said that Hungary had questions about opening the remaining clusters with Ukraine. However, the circle of opponents of this scenario turned out to be significantly wider.

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