MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

”Ukraine belongs to the European family”, but... no fast track access to EU

Macron said the block would not make exceptions, this despite pleas from president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a fast track acceptance of Ukraine

Ukraine belongs to the European family and we will support Ukraine in pursuing its European path,” but the accession process will have to be complied before, was the message from the 27 EU leaders meeting at the Versailles palace in Paris.

The host of the meeting French president Emmanuel Macron said the block would not make exceptions, this despite pleas from president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a fast track acceptance of Ukraine, as the war with Russia moves into the third week.

“Could we have exceptional measures for a country that is at war without respecting the criteria [for joining the EU]? The answer is no,” Macron said after the summit finished on Friday.

His comments echo those made by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who previously said that there was “no such thing as a fast-tracking access, that doesn't exist.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also rejected the idea, but insisted on the association agreement that the EU made with Kyiv in 2017 as a way to deepen ties.

“It is very important that we continue to pursue the things we have decided in the past — this is the course we must follow,” Scholz said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck a more positive note, saying Ukrainians were exercising “their right to choose their own destiny” by starting the process to join the EU.

“Today we have opened the pathway towards us for Ukraine,” she said.

However EU leader instead pledged another €500 million in military assistance to the Kyiv government. These funds come on top of €500 million earmarked last week — the first time the EU is buying weapons for a non-member country under attack.

Leaders also pledged to build up EU's defense capabilities in addition to US-led NATO, to reduce the EU's energy dependency on Russia, and to build up the bloc's economic base in various areas, including raw materials, food, and digital technologies.