The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave the “green light” for Ukraine to join the Union before 2030.

According to Politico, von der Leyen, who was in the capital city of Kyiv, made statements regarding Ukraine’s EU membership process. Von der Leyen praised the “progress” made by Ukraine on the membership path, stating, “I really appreciate the political will demonstrated. In fact, if Ukraine continues the merit-based process at this pace and quality, it could happen even before 2030.”

UKRAINE’S MEMBERSHIP PROCESS Ukraine applied for EU membership just 4 days after Russia’s attack, on February 28, 2022, and received candidate status on June 23, 2022. Despite the decision to start membership negotiations at the EU summit on December 23, 2023, Hungary’s veto could not be overcome for a long time. After the negotiations officially started on June 25, 2024, just a short period of 2.5 years had passed since the application date for the EU to decide to start negotiations, marking the first time the EU sat at the negotiation table with a country in an active conflict.