EU Would Change European Security Architecture By Accepting Ukraine In Bloc - Borrell

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2022) The European Union aims to change the security architecture in Europe established by the Helsinki Accords of 1975 by accepting Ukraine as a member in future, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.

"We gave Ukraine the status of a candidate country, Ukraine will have a place within Europe, and that will change the geopolitical map of Europe, and we want to be able to define a new security structure in Europe to replace the Helsinki agreements structure," Borrell told the Paris Peace Forum.

On February 28, four days after the start of Russia's special military operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the application for Ukraine's accession to the EU. On April 8, the Ukrainian leader received a questionnaire to begin the accession process and returned it to EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas on April 18.

On June 23, the EU approved granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for joining the bloc. Gaining the candidate status is the first step in a long process of accession. Turkey has been a candidate since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, and Serbia since 2012. Croatia was the latest country to join the EU in 2013 after a ten-year accession process.

In 1975, the United States, the Soviet Union and 33 other countries worked out the Helsinki Final Act, which enshrined basic principles of relations between European states in the area of security including sovereign equality, respect for territorial integrity of countries as well as peaceful settlement of disputes and non-intervention in internal affairs.