Scholz: Ukraine will join EU, reconstruction should consider this perspective

Germany supports Ukraine's full EU membership in the future; therefore, the country's reconstruction should consider this perspective.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this in a speech at the 5th German-Ukrainian business forum on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Berlin, Ukrinform reports.

The Chancellor of Germany reminded that on June 23, the EU heads of states and governments granted Ukraine the EU membership candidate status.

"In this way, we are also responsible for what everyone understood long ago after the Maidan: Ukraine is part of the European family. I speak very seriously and understand all the consequences of this — we want Ukraine to become part of the European Union," Scholz said.

He added that this decision is a signal to private investors: whoever invests in Ukraine's reconstruction today will invest in a country that will be part of the EU and part of the common European market.

According to the Chancellor of Germany, this also affects the very process of rebuilding Ukraine, which must be carried out keeping in mind that Ukraine will one day become a full member of the EU.

"This means that both in logistics and in transport, we must act in such a way as to "tie" Ukraine immediately to the internal European market. This means that export routes must be opened for Ukrainian products, for Ukrainian companies. And at the same time, we must "remember about the environment and ecological agriculture," Scholtz noted.

He also emphasized that it is necessary not only to rebuild Ukraine's destroyed energy sector — although it is now a priority — but also to increase efficiency and develop the export of electricity from Ukraine to the EU to strengthen the Ukrainian energy system.

"Ukraine has the sun and wind — these are very good prerequisites for it to be not just a transit country but an exporter of renewable energy. There is already the first agreement between Ukrainian and German enterprises, and we know that there is great potential here," the chancellor of Germany believes.