Top EU Official Calls for Expanding Bloc to Include Ukraine and Other Nations
Prime EU Official Requires Increasing Bloc to Embrace Ukraine and Different Nations
The European Union’s high official on Wednesday known as for a serious enlargement of the bloc to incorporate not solely Ukraine but in addition Moldova, a number of Western Balkan nations and Georgia over the subsequent few years, a transfer that will push the group from 27 to over 30 members with greater than half a billion residents, and would make the world’s largest free-trade, free-travel space even bigger.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Fee, stated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had pushed Europe to reply “to the decision of historical past.”
“In a world the place dimension and weight matter, it’s clearly in Europe’s strategic and safety curiosity to finish our Union,” she stated in her annual State of the European Union handle on the European Parliament within the French metropolis of Strasbourg.
Ms. von der Leyen stated that the aspiring new members ought to bear rigorous reforms earlier than becoming a member of the bloc. Addressing the priority of many longtime E.U. members, such because the Netherlands, she additionally burdened that rule of regulation — which includes rooting out corruption — ought to be on the coronary heart of their accession.
The carefully watched handle units the agenda for the yr forward and is the final in her five-year time period, which ends subsequent summer season with elections held throughout the E.U. Ms. von der Leyen has not but confirmed whether or not she’s going to search the publish once more.
“We shall be at Ukraine’s aspect each step of the way in which. For so long as it takes,” stated Ms. von der Leyen, one of the vital vocal and steadfast of Ukraine’s supporters in Europe.
She additionally introduced that the bloc, which hosts about 4 million Ukrainian refugees, will proceed affording them a particular standing that robotically grants them entry to well being, training and labor markets, for an additional yr.
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