BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, there will be no shortcuts in Ukraine's ambition to join the European Union. Scholz said in his address to the Bundestag, Germany's lower house, that the European Commission expects to conclude its initial examination of Ukraine's EU membership application by the end of June. Allowing shortcuts on the country's road to EU membership, on the other hand, is a "imperative of fairness" for the other Western Balkan countries, he said.
It can take several years to join the EU. As per reports, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia have been recognised candidate countries for between eight and seventeen years.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron dashed Ukraine's dreams of a speedy EU membership. "We all know that the process that would allow them to join would take several years, if not decades," he said.
Scholz spoke out in favour of a European solidarity fund for Ukraine's rehabilitation ahead of a special gathering of EU leaders at the end of May. "It is obviously obvious that rebuilding the wrecked infrastructure and reviving the Ukrainian economy will cost billions," he said. He went on to say that the solidarity fund would be "fed by contributions from the EU and our foreign partners," and that the EU needed to start planning immediately to support Ukraine on "its European path."
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