Ukraine’s and world’s moral authorities call on EU member states’ parliaments to support granting Ukraine a candidate status, calling it defining moment
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Representatives of civil society, scientific and cultural communities of Ukraine, and European countries called on the parliaments of the EU member states to endorse Ukraine's application for EU candidate status and support it with the necessary political will that will lead to its realisation.
It is highlighted that this step will manifest the European community's support of Ukraine in the war with the aggressor country Russia and will significantly strengthen its capacity for resistance. And in the post-war period, it will stimulate Ukrainians to take the necessary steps to achieve integration and create an institutional basis for economic reconstruction. At the same time, the EU will gain a candidate who, with its energy, convictions, and values, will rejuvenate the entire EU project.
Experts of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy, which initiated the appeal to parliaments, emphasize that Ukraine's European aspirations are based on the will of the people and confirmed by the achievements made by the country after signing the Association Agreement in 2014.
In particular, significant progress has been made since then in approximating national legislation to the EU acquis. Ukraine has invested extensive institutional and political capital in the implementation of the Association Agreement.
Moreover, the Government Office for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine was established and Deputy Ministers specifically responsible for European integration were appointed in the line ministries. A community of experts, lawyers, and civil servants has worked to help bring Ukrainian legislation closer to the EU acquis.
Progress has been made in virtually all chapters of the Association Agreement, and in some areas, Ukraine is more advanced than many former candidates at the start of accession. EU norms have begun to be put into practice in sectors such as public procurement, energy, transplantology, and market surveillance reform.
Undoubtedly, Ukraine still needs to take many important steps, as the approximation of EU legislation is a сhallenging task for the post-Soviet country. However, EU candidate status for Ukraine would send a strong political message to Ukrainian society while offering Ukraine access to EU technical assistance and structural funds to implement complex reforms.
Liubov Akulenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy, which initiated the appeal, says that the issue of obtaining candidate status and then EU membership is always a political decision. It could have been accepted for decades, but the war with Russia has significantly accelerated all the processes, although we pay such a high price for it.
Now, according to her, a lot will depend on us, because we will get new homework and will need to demonstrate results. All doubts about our ability to work in the field of security and political reform must be dispelled in the EU countries.
"Ukraine's path to the EU is the transformation of the country into a truly European democracy, in which corruption has been overcome, independent judiciary functions, European standards and practices for business have been introduced. The fact that Ukraine has embarked on the path of obtaining EU candidate status is a historic opportunity and should be seized."
Ihor Koliushko, Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, noted that the selfless struggle against Moscow's imperial aggression had shown the world that Ukrainians are committed to European values. Therefore, obtaining the candidate status for EU membership will be an important step in returning of Ukraine to the European family of nations. "There is no doubt about Ukraine's rapid membership in the EU, our successful integration into the EU value and legal space, and the enrichment of this space with our energy, beliefs, and experience," he said.
Mykhailo Zhernakov, Chairman of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation, points out that it is no accident that rule of law issues are under the first numbers in the EU questionnaire. After all, literally, everything depends on it – the protection of human rights, foreign investment, and, accordingly, the state of the economy. And finally, whether Ukraine can be considered a truly European country.
"Approval of Ukraine's application for EU candidate status is a defining moment not only for Ukraine but also for the European community. It is a chance for Ukraine to return to the European family. But it is also an opportunity for the EU to help defend the frontier of the democratic world where Ukrainians, by sacrificing their lives, have proved their worthiness," the petitioners said.
More than a hundred moral authorities of Ukraine and the world have already signed appeals to the parliaments of the EU countries. Among them: human rights activist, one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar national movement Mustafa Dzhemilev; religious scholar Ihor Kozlovsky; His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk; Ukrainian human rights defender, dissident Myroslav Marynovych; Ukrainian rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk; journalists such as Larysa Ivshyna, Natalia Sokolenko, Andriy Kulykov, Natalia Ligachova, human rights activist Oleksandra Matviychuk, European integration experts such as Ihor Koliushko, Olena Pavlenko, Andriy Andrusevych, Mykhailo Zhernakov, Hanna Hopko; Deputy Director General of National News Agency of Ukraine "Ukrinform" Maryna Synhaivska; investment banker, blogger Serhiy Fursa; professors and scholars from different European countries, namely from Poland, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Romania.