BERLIN, July 15. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has stated that Vladimir Zelensky did not reject his proposal to grant Ukraine EU "associate member" status.
"Vladimir Zelensky did not reject my proposal. There is one problem with this proposal, and it is a domestic political problem of Ukraine," the chancellor told reporters at a press conference. "The wording ‘associate member’ was chosen by Vladimir Zelensky's predecessor in 2013, when Ukraine was offered an association agreement with the EU," Merz explained. Therefore, he continued, this term does not evoke positive feelings. "I have spoken with Zelensky about this many times. There is no objection in principle," the chancellor assured.
Merz stated that allegedly many members of the European Council approved his proposal and promised to do everything to ensure that the European Union keeps its promise to candidate countries "in the coming weeks and months." "If we lose this trust, we will lose more than trust in us, we will lose these countries," he explained. "That would be the worst thing that could happen to us Europeans in terms of geostrategy," the German prime minister asserted. "We are all convinced that the first thing we must do is put an end to this war, thus we need to do everything in our power to ensure its conclusion," he added.
