Ukraine’s EU candidacy has been approved by the European Parliament.
According to Dailymail, the European Parliament in a vote backed by an overwhelming majority of MEPs approved Ukraine to join the bloc.
The report stated that following the approval by the EU Parlament, leaders of the member states will gather in Brussels later today to discuss calls to formally grant Ukraine ‘candidate status’ to join the bloc.
Some member states had made moves to stop Ukraine from joining the EU, saying any accession process is likely to take years if not decades.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had been conducting a ‘telephone marathon’ on his country’s behalf in the run-up to the meeting, making his case to 11 European leaders on Wednesday alone.
‘We are preparing for the historic decision of the European Council. There are only a few hours remaining before it,’ he said in his daily address.
The European Commission-backed candidacy is widely expected to be approved – but accession to the EU could take decades.
In the #EuropeanParliament we have just voted to call for #Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to be allowed to obtain EU-candidate status.
A majority of MEPs, including myself backed the call. #EPlenary #EUCO #eupol #eudk pic.twitter.com/ueQqSDHUfn
— Nikolaj Villumsen (@nvillumsen) June 23, 2022