Czech Republic’s Leader Urges EU to Start Negotiations for Ukraine’s Membership Before Year-end

Prague, April 21 – Czech President Petr Pavel said the Czech Republic needed an EU investigation to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the community this year.

“The wider the area of ​​stability to the east of our borders, the safer we will be here. Ukraine’s early accession to the European Union is in the interest of the Czech Republic, and the Czech Republic should insist on negotiations with Ukraine,” Pavel told reporters in Brussels, where he is on a three-day visit. “(On accession to the European Union) already start before the end of this year.” Czech television broadcast his speech.

Pavel spoke out against the adoption of unilateral measures by some EU member states against Ukrainian wheat due to the problems that have emerged in recent days. “I clearly see the solution not in the adoption of unilateral measures by individual states, but (in measures) within the EU,” Pavel said, adding that, in his opinion, one of the solutions could be the introduction of temporary tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural products.