President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that the priority tasks facing the Ukrainian authorities are the country’s closest approach to the criteria for membership in the European Union and NATO.
“The first thing we have to do now is to fulfill the Association Agreement, but this should not be limited, and new steps should be planned now. In July, at the Ukraine-EU Summit, the Ukrainian side introduced new initiatives on strategic vision of a long-term cooperation for the EU leadership. This is an association with the Schengen zone, accession to the EU Customs Union, the EU Energy Union, the Common Aviation Space and the Single Digital Market. The implementation of these initiatives will in fact turn east Ukrainian border to the eastern border of the European Union before we de jure join the EU,” he said, speaking during his annual address to the parliament in Kyiv on September 7.
According to him, as a result of such a strategy, Ukraine will approach the criteria of membership in the European Union to the maximum.
“As a result of such a strategy, we will get closer to the criteria for membership in the European Union. Ukraine will be integrated with the EU on a sectoral basis, almost like any EU country. And then the membership issue will only be a formality, a matter of time,” Poroshenko said.
“Participation in NATO is no less important to us than European Union membership. Russia’s aggression has demonstrated the bankruptcy of the myth on non-aligned status. Where are its adherents who tried to persuade us that non-aligned status was a guarantee of Ukraine’s security, so that we won’t annoy Russia? Russia has attacked a non-aligned Ukraine and occupied our territories,” Poroshenko said, accusing Russia of responsibility for the deaths of Ukrainian citizens.
