When visiting Kyiv with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday, 16 June, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the four countries were in favour of granting Ukraine EU candidate status.
The European Commission is to present its opinion on Ukraine’s, Moldova’s, and Georgia’s applications this Friday.
“All four of us support the status of immediate candidate for accession”, Macron announced to the media.
Mr Scholz added that his country wants “a positive decision in favour of Ukraine. This also applies to the Republic of Moldova”. He stressed that Ukraine belongs to the European family.
Mr Draghi—who had already explained at the end of May that his country was in favour of granting the status—felt that the most important message of his visit was that “Italy wants Ukraine in the EU”. At the end of May, he had expressed concern about major EU countries’ lack of support towards granting Ukraine [candidate] status (see EUROPE 12962/5). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)