The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived Thursday in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, for a summit with the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenski, in which fifteen European Commissioners will participate, in a new show of political support for the Ukrainian government in the face of the Russian invasion and to discuss progress towards its possible entry into the European Union (EU).
«It’s good to be back in Kiev, my fourth time since the start of the Russian invasion,» Von der Leyen said via her Twitter account, where she stressed that this time she is traveling with her «team of commissioners.» «We are all together to show that the EU stands with Ukraine as firmly as ever and that we will strengthen our support and cooperation,» she added.
On the eve of the trip, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said that «we have to be optimistic and at the same time realistic», while stressing that Ukraine’s possible accession to the European bloc must follow the process based on reforms that «no one can skip». Although Brussels and the EU-27 have taken unprecedented steps to bring Ukraine closer to the EU, granting it candidate status in record time, Borrell said that its entry into the bloc will not be «a thing of tomorrow».
As it is, the meeting between the European Commission and the Ukrainian government will serve to deepen the dialogue on the accession process and review Kiev’s reform agenda for joining the bloc. An EU-Ukraine summit will be held the following day in the presence of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
In terms of announcements, official confirmation is expected that the EU will increase the capacity of its training mission for Ukrainian troops to train 30,000 military personnel, double the initial target, as well as an allocation of 25 million for demining programs in the field and the formal adoption of the seventh batch of 500 million from the fund used by the EU to pay for the shipment of arms from the EU-27 to Ukraine.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
