MEP Gyöngyösi: Ukraine’s way towards Europe

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MEP Márton Gyöngyösi’s (Non-attached) thoughts via press release:

The people of Ukraine are undoubtedly committed to their country’s western orientation. The evidence lies not only in words and political actions: they have clearly demonstrated their stance by the heroic struggle against the Russian invaders. For that, the people of Ukraine deserve enormous respect. Europe has very rightfully granted the country a membership candidate status to express that the Ukrainian sacrifices are not forgotten.

However, I must warn against any false illusions. Becoming an EU member state is not a short process, not because the EU is ungenerous, quite the contrary, in fact: it is the candidate country’s and its citizens’ fundamental interest to complete all membership-related reforms, i.e., the state and its agencies must be ready for EU membership prior to the actual accession. What point is there in EU membership if it does not bring a palpable difference in people’s lives?

As we have recently seen in Hungary and other places, democracy is fragile and it’s easy to fall back to a world dominated by oligarchs and political criminals. It is vital for war-torn Ukraine to be able to join the European community at the end of the candidacy period as a strong and successful state rather than a poor, devastated and corrupt country. This imposes some major challenges on both Kyiv and Brussels, though.

The first and most important goal is to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Back in 2004, Cyprus joined the EU while its government did not have sovereign control over the country’s entire, internationally recognized territory. The consequences are still affecting the EU to this day: the chance of a settlement seems to be gone forever, resulting in a constant violation of international law and letdown of Northern Cypriots who are stuck outside the EU border despite their citizenship status.

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We mustn’t make the same mistake with Ukraine: the country must become a part of the EU with its entire territory and all of its citizens. For that to happen, we must provide all the necessary assistance to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The other important issue is to restitute peace in Ukraine’s society. Ukraine is an enormous and diverse state where, beside Ukrainian, people speak several other languages and belong to various religious groups. We, Europeans consider this as a great value and we would like Kyiv to do so, too. That’s why it’s so important, especially if you consider how many sons of these minority groups are now fighting in the ranks of the Ukrainian army, to recognize their cultural heritage and guarantee their collective rights to preserve their traditions and freely use their language.

In this regard, Europe’s job is to share its tried and true concepts with the Ukrainian government and help it to adapt them to its own practice.

Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.

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Source: gyongyosimarton.com