France, Germany, Italy and Romania support Ukraine’s “immediate” candidacy for the European Union (EU), French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday in kyiv. “The four of us support the status of immediate candidate” for accession, Macron declared at a joint press conference with the heads of government of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and of Italy, Mario Draghi, and the Romanian head of state, Klaus Iohannis.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had been postponing this trip since the beginning of the invasion for various reasons. But now that he arrives in kyiv he does it in a big way, arm in arm with Frenchman Emmanuel Macron and Italian Mario Draghi. They have also been joined at the last minute by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis
. “In kyiv today, with my European colleagues to show firm support and total solidarity to Zelensky and the Italian people”, Iohannis congratulated himself on joining the bandwagon of the great Europeans and on the eve of the European Commission ruling on the Ukrainian application for EU membership.
And a visit of such political weight cannot arrive without presents, without a diplomatic content according to the category of the group. The first message was outlined by Scholz as soon as he set foot on the ground, after a long train journey whose route has remained secret for security reasons. Scholz has promised support for Ukraine “as long as it is necessary for the struggle for independence”, thus giving the character of unlimited European support for the Ukrainian resistance and pointing out to Putin that the end of the war will not come by exhausting Ukraine.
“It is important that the heads of government of the three big countries, which participated in the founding of the European Economic Community, are in kyiv now and show their support for Ukraine and the citizens of Ukraine, in this very special war situation”, the Social Democratic chancellor has said, seeking the sympathy of the Ukrainian people after months of harsh criticism for his repeated reluctance to send heavy weapons. “But we don’t just want to show solidarity, we also want to ensure that the help we organize, financial, humanitarian, but also in terms of weapons, will continue,” he stressed.
This triplicate visit will make it clear once again that the sanctions imposed on Russia are of great importance “because they contribute to the possibility of Russia giving up its plan and withdrawing its troops again, which is the real goal,” Scholz emphasized, without position itself still on the main battle horse in the negotiation necessary for the organization of this visit.
The Ukrainian government wants a gesture in favor of its candidacy to join the EU and Scholz has preferred not to mention this alone, at least not until, together with Macron and Draghi, he meets with President Volodímir Zelensky. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has repeatedly called on Scholz to promise more arms deliveries during today’s visit and the Ukrainians hope that the importance of the visit is not only “symbolic” but “groundbreaking”, he has said the ambassador, who also notes that Germany’s military aid must be raised “to a qualitatively new level.” The expectations for this visit are very high and Scholz will have a hard time fulfilling them.
Emmanuel Macron has also assured Ukraine upon his arrival that the visit hopes to bring a “message of European unity addressed to Ukrainians and of support, to talk about the present and the future at the same time, because we know that the next few weeks will become difficult . For his part, Mario Draghi also referred to the fact that “the heart of Europeans beats with Ukraine”.
But they have barely been able to make statements to the press because, a few minutes after setting foot on the platform, the anti-aircraft alarms have begun to sound, which had been silent for almost forty-eight hours, and the three have had to comply with orders from the security device and remain sheltered in the hotel, which undoubtedly delays the agenda of the visiting day. Meanwhile, Zelensky has advanced to the Ukrainian media that he hopes that the meeting will have “really content” and has indicated that, if Moscow succeeds and manages to impose itself by force in Ukraine, it could attack other countries, among which he has mentioned Poland. , Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, who has received the three heads of government, has been particularly delighted with the first visit of Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz to the Ukrainian capital. “As mayor, I am happy and proud that the German chancellor is visiting our city together with the French president and the Italian prime minister”, Klitschko said, “this is a sign of great support at a time when visiting kyiv is still a risk, since the missiles can still fall at any time.
Klitschko stressed that the visit “has above all a great symbolic importance and shows support for Ukraine in times of war.” “There can only be stability in Europe if Putin finally ends this cruel war against our country”, has slipped the threat that the invasion of Ukraine extends to the peace and prosperity of all Europeans.
