Photo: Press Service of the President of Ukraine
Zelensky in Brussels
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday, December 15, met with French President Emmanuel Macron and the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the EU Eastern Partnership Summit. In Brussels, he met not only with the leadership of the European Union, but also held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In particular, the leaders discussed the war in Donbass and the negotiations in the Normandy format.
So what have we been promised this time?
Membership prospects
Zelensky in Brussels stressed that the associated trio of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova should in the future become a new wave of EU enlargement.
Separately, he noted the need to strengthen the security component of the Eastern Partnership, in particular, to coordinate joint efforts of the countries of the Black Sea region.
Zelensky thanked the leaders of the EU member states for supporting Ukraine’s European aspirations and for concluding bilateral declarations on the European perspective of our state. Bilateral declarations are a new strategy of the Ukrainian authorities to promote integration. Thus, Slovenia, which now chairs the Council of the European Union, has joined the EU countries that have concluded bilateral declarations on the recognition of Ukraine’s European prospects.
Slovenia became the 7th country to sign a declaration in support of Ukraine’s European perspective. thanks @JJansaSDS for its strong support and important assistance in the implementation of reforms. Prospective investment projects in 🇺🇦 and 🇸🇮 were also discussed. pic.twitter.com/QLm8lwHKIP
– Vladimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) December 15, 2021
Slovenia has become the seventh EU state with which Ukraine has signed such a political document. Zelenskiy thanked Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Yansu for Ukraine’s strong support and important assistance in implementing reforms. Earlier, six EU countries signed declarations on the recognition of Ukraine’s European perspective. These are Poland, the Baltic states, Slovakia and Croatia. The text of the documents signed with the states has not been made public.
“Our expansion stage will be called the Associated Trio Wave. By the way, in recent days there have been encouraging signals on the Balkan wave. we are also getting closer to a strategic goal, a clear perspective of EU membership for the Associated Trio, “noted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Normandy format
In Brussels, Zelenskiy held his first meeting with the new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at which he spoke about Ukraine’s possible NATO membership. After the meeting of the Ukrainian President with the German Chancellor, they will be joined by French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France at a meeting in Brussels agreed to continue work in the Normandy format. The President of Ukraine said that he thanked Macron and Scholz for the strong support of Ukraine against the background of the military threat from Russia, as well as for the consistent position of Germany and France in the Normandy format.
“They confirmed their readiness to continue working,” Zelensky said.
At a meeting with Macron, Zelenskiy expressed hope that the French presidency of the European Union in 2022 will pay special attention to the security of Ukraine and countering Russian hybrid aggression in Europe.
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