The speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, said that the opening of negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership already this year is in the interests of the Czech Republic.
As Ceske Noviny reports, she stated this before the start of the parliamentary conference of EU countries in Prague.
Last week, President Petr Pavel said that the Czech Republic should insist in the EU to start accession negotiations with Ukraine already this year, which Kyiv wants. Pekarova Adamova said on Monday that Ukraine considers this term to be real.
"Of course, we support this happening, it is also in our interests," she said.
According to the chairman of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Miloš Vystrčila, the Russian invasion of Ukraine can also increase the chances of other countries joining the EU and speed up this process.
In Prague, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also recalled her previous statement that negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the EU could start already this year. "The European Parliament was the first of the EU institutions to request Ukraine to be granted candidate status, and since then we have been trying to help step by step," she said.
On Monday, at a conference in Prague, leaders of European parliaments will discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine and the EU's response in a broader geopolitical context. Pekarova Adamova will give a speech in which she will sum up the results of the 14 months that have passed since the beginning of the Russian aggression, and will also offer ideas for the future.
Pekarova Adamova also wants unequivocal support for anti-Russian sanctions to be voiced at the conference. "Sometimes in some countries we hear that they are not working, that we should discuss whether they should be continued. On behalf of the Czech Republic, I would like to reject this unequivocally, on the contrary, to support their continuation, but also their consistent application," she said.
Earlier it was reported that the European Commission is considering recommending to EU member states to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, and to grant candidate status to Georgia.
Accession negotiations refer to the conditions under which a country will be admitted to the EU. They focus on the adoption and implementation of EU legislation (acquis). The aim is for the candidate country to meet the conditions for membership, often referred to as the "Copenhagen criteria".
