Zelenskyy considers EU membership of Georgia and Belarus necessary

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, believes that the EU extension should go beyond the current list of candidate states, and also include Belarus.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed at a joint press conference with Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, that Ukraine expects the EU to take the steps necessary for the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s EU accession, but the extension must also involve other European states.

"We have fulfilled all conditions so that a negotiation frame is approved in June, and the talks on Ukraine’s EU accession really begin. It is equally as important that European unity indeed works for other nations which deserve to be in the EU, so that they could realise their candidacy status," Zelenskyy explained.

Zelenskyy also listed the states which he saw as future EU members.

"Europe is also Balkans and Moldova, and there will definitely be Europe Day for Georgia and Europe Day for Belarus," he stated, announcing Ukraine’s vision of Belarus’ future EU membership for the first time.

Remarkably, he did not mention Türkiye which formally has a candidacy status but the negotiations with which have been put on hold.  

Zelenskyy added that this position is shared by the representatives of the European Parliament. "All this has been reflected by the positions of the European Parliament, and it is indeed important to implement all this," he stressed.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, came to Kyiv on Europe Day on 9 May.

The elections for the new composition of the European Parliament will be held in June.