France: Ukraine will not have a "VIP ticket" to join the EU

 France re-emphasizes the view that Ukraine is unlikely to be able to join the European Union (EU) soon, despite Kiev's efforts receiving support from leaders in the bloc.

In an interview with Europe 1 radio, the French government's minister for European affairs, Clement Beaune, outlined a series of conditions for Ukraine to officially join the EU.


Mr. Beaune said that Ukraine's bid to become an EU member could take several years, re-emphasizing the position that Kiev will not be able to take a "shortcut" to enter the European Union.


He said Ukraine would have to follow the same strict rules as any other country applying to join. "There will be no shortened procedures, no VIP tickets," Minister Beaune said.


"Ukraine will first need to end the war, rebuild the country and satisfy all its economic and democratic requirements. This will take time. But we are sending signals of expansion (welcome). Ukraine)", the French official emphasized the conditions that Kiev needed to fulfill.


EU leaders will meet for a summit from June 23-24 to discuss whether to grant candidate status to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The European Commission (EC) last week expressed its support for granting EU candidate status to Ukraine.


EC President Ursula von der Leyen said the organization recommended "that Ukraine be granted candidate status. This, of course, means that Kiev will continue to implement reforms".


Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on June 19 predicted that the actual time that Ukraine could officially join the EU is in the 2050s.


According to the Russian official, the problem lies in the EU's promise to admit Ukraine, but without a specific date, accompanied by a series of abstract conditions that are difficult to verify.


"An objective verification process is not possible. Ukraine will be looked at for decades by new generations of EU leaders. So the actual time for them to join the EU will be somewhere in the middle. this century, not earlier," Mr. Medvedev surmised.


Last month, Minister Beaune said that Ukraine's admission to the European Union (EU) could take two decades.

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