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.
Together with Von der Leyen have traveled to Ukraine the Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager; the Economic Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis; the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell; the Community Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations, Maros Sefcovic; the Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, Vera Jourová; and the Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas.
They are joined by the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit; the Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Paolo Gentiloni; the Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski; the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Deynders; the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson; Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic; Commissioner for Neighborhood and EU Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi; Commissioner for Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius; and Commissioner for Financial Services, Mairead McGuiness.
The European Commission stressed in a statement that this visit «is a robust symbol» of the body’s support for Ukraine «in the face of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression», while stressing that the meetings «will be an opportunity to conduct exchanges in the many areas of cooperation between the EU and Ukraine and to discuss the future reconstruction as well as the European path of the country».
On the eve of the trip, Borrell said that «we must 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)