Zelenskyy Hands Over Ukraine's EU Membership Questionnaire To EU Ambassador

Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday turned in Ukraine's questionnaire for obtaining EU candidate status to EU Ambassador in Ukraine Matti Maasikas

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2022) Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday turned in Ukraine's questionnaire for obtaining EU candidate status to EU Ambassador in Ukraine Matti Maasikas.

"Even at the stage of acquiring the status of the EU candidate, questionnaire and its responses, the procedure takes years, and I wish to commend not only our team, but also yours for the pace, which provides us with opportunity to complete this procedure in weeks or a couple of months," Zelenskyy told Maasikas, while submitting the questionnaire.

Maasikas also noted the swiftness with which Ukraine filled out the questionnaire, saying that it is the next step for the country on its path to the EU.

"Another step on Ukraine's EU path. Honoured to receive from @ZelenskyyUa the answers to @EU_Commission questionnaire, handed over by @vonderleyen only 10 days ago.

Extraordinary times take extraordinary steps and extraordinary speed," Maasikas said on his social media.

During the EU delegation's visit to Kiev on April 8, European Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen handed Zelenskyy a questionnaire to begin Ukraine's accession process. She emphasized that this questionnaire would lay the groundwork for further discussion on the country's membership in the future. Following that, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna said that Ukraine expects to acquire candidate status in June.

Ukraine applied for EU membership on February 28, shortly after Russia launched its military operation. It was followed by Georgia and Moldova, which decided to fast-track submission of their applications and similarly received the EU questionnaire in mid-April.