European Council President Charles Michel said that 27 EU leaders will discuss at a summit scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Brussels the issue of granting Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidate states for joining the bloc.

He explained that the decision to approve Ukraine and Moldova as two official candidates for EU membership should be taken unanimously. In his letter of invitation to the leaders of the Union to take part in the summit, he noted that “the time has come to recognize that the future of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia lies in the European Union. I will invite you to grant the candidate country the status of both Ukraine and Moldova”, emphasizing that “in parallel, we will continue to provide Ukraine with strong humanitarian, military, economic and financial support.”

Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recommended that European leaders agree to granting Ukraine and Moldova the status of official candidate countries for joining the bloc. As for Georgia, I mentioned that this country still has to carry out reforms in order to receive this status.”

Ukraine submitted its candidacy at the end of February, shortly after the start of the Russian war on its territory. Never before has an opinion been issued in such a short time on a request for a candidacy, an emergency due to the war that the Europeans have staged in the context of their support for Ukraine against Russia.