PARIS
\nUkraine should not expect a fast track to EU membership despite there being a consensus on granting it candidate status, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune has cautioned.
\nRT News reported that speaking with the host of France\u2019s Europe 1 radio station on Wednesday, Beaune said there was \u201ctotal consensus\u201d among EU members that Ukraine is eligible to become a candidate nation. The official added that he expected this to be formally \u201cconfirmed on Thursday and Friday.\u201d
\nOn June 23-24, the heads of state and government of all 27 countries comprising the EU will gather in Brussels, with the membership bids of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia high on the agenda. The French official hastened to warn, however, that \u201cit\u2019s a long process, Ukraine will not be a member of the European Union tomorrow morning.\u201d
\nBeaune emphasized that Kiev will not be given \u201caccelerated procedure or privilege,\u201d adding that the French parliament will have a final say in deciding whether Paris will back granting Ukraine candidate status.
\nThe French secretary of state for European affairs noted that to become a member state, an aspiring country \u201cmust meet extremely strict requirements in terms of the fight against corruption, the rule of law, media pluralism, economic levels.\u201d
\nBeaune clarified that it would first \u201cbe necessary to end the war, rebuild the country,\u201d before the Eastern European nation could stand a chance of joining the EU. The diplomat concluded that while the process was going to be time-consuming, the bloc would be \u201cgiving this opening signal\u201d by bestowing candidate status on Ukraine.
\nThis is not the first time a top French official has warned Ukraine that it cannot expect to join the EU in the near future. In early May, French President Emmanuel Macron went so far as to suggest creating a \u201cEuropean political community\u201d that would include such EU hopefuls as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, which would be given certain perks. Macron argued that while it was important for the EU not to alienate those nations, they were all most likely years if not decades away from becoming member states, even if given \u201ccandidate status tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Ukraine should not expect a fast track to EU membership despite there being a consensus on granting it candidate status, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune has cautioned. RT News reported that speaking with the host of France\u2019s Europe 1 radio station on Wednesday, Beaune said there was \u201ctotal consensus\u201d among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2064,8846,601,456],"class_list":{"0":"post-267579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-fast","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-ukraine"},"yoast_head":"\n