News Feed

Portugal urges EU to begin making preparations for Ukraine's eventual membership

1 min read
Portugal urges EU to begin making preparations for Ukraine's eventual membership
PSD vice-president Paulo Rangel, now Portugal's foreign minister, during the first of a two-day European People's Party Political Assembly on November 17, 2022, in Lisbon, Portugal.(Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Portugal is advocating for Ukraine's entry into the European Union and is urging the EU to start preparing for this possibility, Bloomberg reports.

Portugal's foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, stated that the country is deeply engaged in the EU enlargement process during an interview at the Forum Ambrosetti, a conference taking place by Lake Como in northern Italy.

He also said that Ukraine's potential membership will require financial and institutional reforms that need to be addressed now.

Rangel has been a strong supporter of Ukraine, previously stating that the EU must stay committed to its policy that any discussions about ending the war in Ukraine should be led by the government in Kyiv.


"We will never abdicate from respecting the United Nations charter, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine," Portugal's Rangel said. "If we set the precedent that a state can use force to change internationally recognized borders, we will create conditions for multiplying conflicts globally."

‘Ukraine’s not asking for anything more than you already have,’ Zelensky says in Italy
Ukraine is grateful for air defenses provided by its partners, but they are still “not enough to secure our entire territory and repel every Russian attack,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his visit to Italy on Sept. 6.
Article image
Avatar
Sonya Bandouil

North American news editor

Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC. Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.

Read more
News Feed

The World Bank will provide $200 million over the next five years to prepare Ukrainian projects for large-scale reconstruction, the Economy Ministry announced on July 11. The funding will be available under the five-year PREPARE program with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

Video

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, war has become a daily reality for thousands of Ukrainian children. Some Ukrainian military units, such as the Azov Brigade, offer boot camps for teenagers to teach them the basics of self-defense, first aid, dry firing, and other survival skills — helping them prepare for both the realities of today and the uncertainties of the future.

Show More