Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said that the European Union should admit new states to its membership on a competitive basis, which would be conditioned by the results of the reforms carried out.
“Candidate countries to the European Union should be accepted gradually,” the Czech foreign minister said in an interview with the APA news agency.
The head of Czech diplomacy called for a “regatta model”, i.e. a competition between candidates for EU accession based on the results of the reforms made in the countries. The diplomat noted that joining as a group would “hinder the faster nomination of candidates.”
The Czech foreign minister emphasised that adapting to EU rules and reforms are two “parallel processes”.
“We should provide a European perspective to every European country that wants it and fulfils the requirements,” Jan Lipavsky said.
At the same time, Ukraine, according to the Czech foreign minister, “represents a special case” because of the current realities. The diplomat stressed that Ukrainians had made a choice in favour of “democracy and European lifestyle” and therefore “deserve all possible support from the EU countries”.
Earlier, Irish MEP Mick Wallace said that Ukraine with the current leadership had turned into a dictatorship and a country where people live in fear.
