The meeting will take place on the eve of the EU-Ukraine summit also in the Ukrainian capital

BRUSELAS, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

About fifteen European commissioners, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, traveled to Ukraine this Thursday to deal face to face with the government of Volodimir Zelenski on progress in joining the European Union, in a new sign of political support for kyiv and a clear message to the Kremlin that the bloc will not give up its support.

“You have to be optimistic and at the same time realistic,” the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, said in statements to journalists before the trip, stressing that accession must follow the process based on reforms that “no one can skip “.

Despite the fact that Brussels and the Twenty-seven have taken unprecedented steps to bring Ukraine closer to the EU, granting it candidate status in record time, the head of diplomacy has concluded that its entry into the bloc will not be “a thing of tomorrow”. “Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will continue to talk about a bloody war in Ukraine,” he said.

Thus, the meeting between the European Commission and the Ukrainian government will serve to deepen the dialogue on the accession process and review kyiv’s reform agenda to integrate into the bloc. The day after, an EU-Ukraine summit will take place in the presence of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

The EU countries accepted their candidacy to join the EU last June following the opinion of the European Commission that endorsed taking the step, assuming that the country, in the midst of war with Russia, will address far-reaching reforms in the economic, legal and political.

In the community capital they point out that contact with the Ukrainian authorities is complete and “not a day goes by” in which Brussels and kyiv do not discuss the progress in joining the community club. However, European sources remain balanced on the idea of ??an ‘express’ entry into the bloc, after Ukraine has said it has a plan to be able to enter the EU within two years.

“There is no doubt that Ukraine will be a member of the EU when all the conditions have been met,” said said source, who assures that the appointment will serve to support the reforms and recognize progress, but insists on “not speculating” with the dates. . In this sense, it is time to wait until spring, when a first report will arrive on the progress made by Ukraine on its European path.

In recent weeks, Brussels has assessed the fight against corruption of the Ukrainian authorities after the creation of the new Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office or the appointment of a new director of the national anti-corruption body, this is added to the dismissal of more than one dozen governors, deputy ministers and even a presidential adviser after various bribery scandals.

In the announcement chapter, official confirmation is expected that the EU will increase the capacity of its training mission for Ukrainian troops to train 30,000 soldiers, double the initial goal, in addition to a budget of 25 million for demining programs on the ground and the formal adoption of the seventh batch of 500 million from the fund that the EU uses to pay for the shipment of arms from the Twenty-seven to Ukraine.