French President Emmanuel Macron says it will take 'decades' for a candidate like Ukraine to join EU and suggests building a broader political community of democratic states around the bloc
Noting the urgency of giving Ukraine and other EU hopefuls like Moldova and Georgia a place in the heart of Europe, the French president called for the creation of a"European political community".
"Even if we gave them candidate status tomorrow," he said of Ukraine on Monday, "we all know perfectly well that the process of allowing them to join would take several years, in truth doubtless several decades." Just ahead of Macron's speech, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted that the EU executive would give its "opinion" on Ukraine's membership bid in June.But Macron, in a speech endorsing calls for a treaty change to further strengthen the EU's federal integration, said the bloc, "given its level of integration and ambition" could not be Europe's only organising body.
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