French President Emmanuel Macron announced in Kyiv on Thursday that France, along with Germany, Italy and Romania, supports the idea of granting an ‘immediate’ EU candidate status to Ukraine.
At a news conference after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Macron said: “We all four support the immediate EU candidate status.”
Macron added that the status will be accompanied by a roadmap and will take into account the situation in the Balkans especially in Moldova.
Draghi told the same news conference that his main message to Zelenskiy was that Italy wants to see Ukraine in the European Union. He also said that he fully supports the investigation into the alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
For his part, Scholz said Germany will continue to support Ukraine as long as it needs, highlighting the ‘heroic’ battle the country was fighting against Russia.
Germany had taken in 800,000 Ukrainian refugees, and was also supporting Ukraine financially and militarily, Scholz is quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
President Iohannis: I strongly condemn the use of grain exports by Russia as a weapon
President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday, in Kyiv, condemned the use of grain exports by Russia as a weapon and called for the involvement of all relevant actors to agree on a ‘coalition of states’ to support the international effort to create ‘blue corridors’ for safe maritime transport across the Black Sea.
“We are now at the point where Russia has added another blackmail tool to its actions – grains. I strongly condemn the use of grain exports by Russia as a weapon, with such a major global impact. We discussed this today and possible solutions to overcome this situation. As a relevant part of the solution to the food insecurity situation generated by Russia, Romania actively participates in efforts to facilitate the transit of grain exports from Ukraine and acts as a regional hub for Ukrainian grains (…) Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Port of Constanta has provided more than a million tons of grain from Ukraine, and we are working to open new border checkpoints with Ukraine, as well as to rehabilitate wide gauge railways on the territory of Romania”, said the head of state, at the joint conference with Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenski, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
Preparations for the reconstruction of Ukraine must begin, the Romanian president stressed.
“We all agree that the European Union has an important role to play in this endeavor, and we need to create effective tools for that,” he said.
President Iohannis stressed that granting candidate status for accession to the European Union for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia at next week’s European Council is essential to building a “strong and lasting shield” around European values.
Via Agerpres
Photo: www.presidency.ro
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