Opening the first Inter-Committee Meeting between the European Parliament and the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said: “Today’s meeting marks the launch of an in-depth, comprehensive and concrete sectorial cooperation between our two institutions. Cooperation that is crucial in view of Ukraine’s European path. This is something that Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and I have discussed and converged over on several occasions… because there is no question that Ukraine’s future is as a Member of the European Union. Rest assured that Ukraine will always find a friend and ally in the European Parliament. My hope is that accession negotiations will be able to start already this year.”

At the meeting, where committee chairs of the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada debated the nature and challenges of the EU accession process, MEPs stated their firm condemnation of the illegal and unjustified Russian war of aggression. The EU as well as…