{"id":1111,"date":"2022-06-18T11:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T10:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/?p=1111"},"modified":"2022-06-20T11:31:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T10:31:46","slug":"von-der-leyen-says-ukraine-ready-for-eu-candidate-status-ahead-of-bloc-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/von-der-leyen-says-ukraine-ready-for-eu-candidate-status-ahead-of-bloc-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Von der Leyen says Ukraine ready for EU \u2018candidate status\u2019 ahead of bloc meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Europe sent a powerful symbol of solidarity with Ukraine on Friday, when Brussels backed Kyiv\u2019s bid for EU candidate status, even as Russia shelled frontline Ukrainian cities and cut back gas supplies to the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"nv-iframe-embed\"><iframe title=\"Von der Leyen says Ukraine ready for EU \u2018candidate status\u2019 ahead of bloc meeting!!!\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bcozg9T7Oew?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#UkraineRussiaWar #Russia #Ukraine #PutinsWar #Zelensky #VonderLeyen<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>With the European Commission\u2019s backing, Ukraine could now be added to the list of countries vying for EU membership as early as next week, when member state leaders meet at their Brussels summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All 27 EU leaders will have to agree to the candidacy, but the heads of the European Union\u2019s biggest members\u2014France, Germany and Italy\u2014already gave their full-throated support to the idea on Thursday, on a trip to a war-torn suburb of Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then on Friday, the European Commission gave the executive\u2019s formal backing to the bid, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen made her position clear by donning a striking jacket in Ukraine\u2019s national colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with us for the European dream,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately welcomed the decision as a \u201cfirst step on the EU membership path that\u2019ll certainly bring our victory closer\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He thanked von der Leyen for the commission\u2019s \u201chistoric decision\u201d and said he expected that EU leaders would give Ukraine a \u201cpositive result\u201d at the June 23 to 24 summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once Ukraine joins the EU candidates\u2019 list\u2014alongside several countries in the western Balkans\u2014it could still take years to meet all the formal membership requirements, even if Kyiv prevails in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes, Ukraine should be welcomed as a candidate country\u2014this is based on the understanding that good work has been done but important work also remains to be done,\u201d von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in the meantime, the fighting continues, with Russian forces bombarding Ukrainian pockets of resistance in frontline Severodonetsk, including civilians holed up in a chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Moscow turned up the pressure on the Western allies, sharply reducing flows of natural gas in its pipelines to western Europe, driving up energy prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Die for the dream\u2019<br>France\u2019s network provider said it had not received any Russian gas by pipeline from Germany since June 15, and Italy\u2019s Eni said it expected Russian firm Gazprom to cut its supplies by half on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several European countries, including Italy and Germany, are highly reliant upon Russian gas for their energy needs and, as the West sides with Ukraine, Moscow is cutting supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Berlin and Rome have rejected Russia\u2019s argument that technical issues have caused the drop in supplies, arguing that state-owned Gazprom\u2019s move is political.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But western Europe is sweltering in a heatwave and energy prices are already soaring, adding to runaway inflation and industrial action in several economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation is, of course, more stark in Ukraine itself, where Russian troops have occupied a swathe of the south and east of the country during the 113-day war, including much of the Donbas region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe humanitarian situation across Ukraine\u2014particularly in the eastern Donbas\u2014is extremely alarming and continues to deteriorate rapidly,\u201d the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement said the situation is \u201cparticularly worrying in and around Severodonetsk\u201d\u2014where bloody battles have raged for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018God\u2019s will\u2019<br>Severodonetsk is in the Lugansk region, where governor Sergiy Gaiday called for a ceasefire, stating hundreds of civilians were trapped in the besieged Azot chemical plant in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is now impossible and physically dangerous to get out of the plant due to constant shelling and fighting. There are 568 people in the shelter, including 38 children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaiday said earlier this week that around 10,000 civilians remained in the city, which is controlled mostly by Russian forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the frontline Donbas village of Adamivka near the city of Sloviansk, a community of Orthodox nuns have seen a rocket hole blasted into the wall of their well-tended garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under near-constant bombardment by Russian forces, Sister Anastasi and a group of other black-clad nuns and pilgrims live day-to-day, praying for deliverance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are all alive, yes. No one has left. This is our home,\u201d she said quietly, her face framed by a black veil, as shells crashed in the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe trust in God\u2019s will, in God\u2019s help, in the help of all the saints and the Holy Virgin. This is our home, we have nowhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least two people were killed and 20 injured in a Russian strike on a residential area in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, the local governor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Europe sent a powerful symbol of solidarity with Ukraine on Friday, when Brussels backed Kyiv\u2019s bid for EU candidate status, even as Russia shelled frontline Ukrainian cities and cut back gas supplies to the West. #UkraineRussiaWar #Russia #Ukraine #PutinsWar #Zelensky #VonderLeyen With the European Commission\u2019s backing, Ukraine could now be added to the list of&hellip;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[336,341],"tags":[408,407,410,411,412],"class_list":["post-1111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-federal","category-euro-politics","tag-putinswar","tag-ukraine","tag-vonderleyen","tag-ukrainerussiawar-2","tag-zelensky-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1112,"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions\/1112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euro64.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}