Ukraine needs EU candidacy not ‘compromise’, says Zelensky

KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine needs to become a full candidate to join the EU, rather than signing up to the kind of broader "European political community" antechamber proposed by France, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

"We don’t need any alternatives to the application of Ukraine to join the European Union, we don’t need such compromises," Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv during a joint press conference with visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

French President Emmanuel Macron raised hackles in Ukraine on May 9 by suggesting that the country could take "decades" to become a full EU member and should aspire instead to join a "European political community," a sort of antechamber for the European Union.

Ukraine would notably have to meet rigorous standards in governance, fight corruption and apply the rule of law before it could be admitted as an EU member. Russia invaded Ukraine in February, in part to thwart Kyiv’s tilt towards integration with the EU and Nato.