BRUSSELS - The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has arrived in Kiev, where she is scheduled to meet with Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Europe Day. "I very much welcome President Zelensky's decision to make May 9 Europe Day, Ukraine is part of our European family," he told reporters upon his arrival in the Ukrainian capital after calling it on his Twitter profile the place "where values dear to us are defended every day", the "appropriate place to celebrate Europe Day".
"We are continuing to increase the pressure on Russia: it is one of the points on which I will inform President Zelensky, the focus is now on the strict implementation of sanctions and the adoption of measures against circumvention," von der Leyen told one of the reporters of the European Newsroom pool. "We are determined to close the existing loopholes, no one doubts that," he continued, stressing that his "presence in Kiev is symbolic, but it is also the sign of a crucial and very concrete fact: the EU works side by side with Ukraine on many issues."
The head of the European executive then visited the wall of remembrance of the fallen for Ukraine in front of the monastery of St. Michael in Kiev. After stopping in front of the wall, she then moved to the square where she was shown the remains of Russian tanks and vehicles displayed on the spot.
Among the main topics of the meetings that the President of the EU Commission will have in Kiev with the heads of Ukrainian institutions, starting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, there will be that of the so-called "accountability" of Russians for crimes committed in Ukraine. The latter issue includes two major issues: post-war reconstruction, with Brussels' legal attempt to confiscate frozen Russian assets, and the establishment of a hybrid or international tribunal on Russian crimes.
But with the Ukrainian president will also be addressed the chapter of Kiev's accession path to the EU. In this sense, the Ukrainian government's commitment to reforms - starting with the anti-corruption reforms - requested by Brussels will be verified in substance by the European executive. The hypothesis is that October is the crucial month for the 27 to decide whether or not to open accession negotiations with Kiev.
More than one EU member country is sceptical about Kiev's implementation of the required anti-corruption reforms. The issue of financial aid will probably be among those on the table of the meeting between von der Leyen and Zelensky. And it is far from excluded that the two will also face the issue of Ukrainian wheat export, after the unilateral stop decreed by several Eastern European countries to the import of Kiev's agricultural products. A stop that has irritated the Ukrainian government.
