Zelenskyy wants honesty from Rutte: “if there is no place in the EU, say so.”
Can Ukraine join the EU at a faster pace now that there’s a war with Russia, or not? Prime Minister Rutte kept matters on the surface when he spoke to the Ukrainian parliament.
The Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelenksyy thinks that Rutte should show a clearer position on the matter. Thursday, he had a call with the Prime Minister. “I told him openly: If you think there is no place for us in the EU, then say so clearly. You do help us and I’m very grateful for it, but when it comes to the EU you were silent about all the things we needed to hear.”
Personally, Zelenksyy thinks that his country is ready for candidate membership of the EU, as said in an exclusive interview with Nieuwsuur in Kyiv. The reformations that necessary “must and can be put into action” he says. “Yes, there are problems, but you have those in many countries, including those in the EU.”
He calls the future membership “A signal that will help us stand stronger in the battle that we are fighting against Russia in our own country”. Therefore, he does not understand why there are European politcians who are saying that “there is no place for us yet”. “What do they base this on.”
**Corruption.**
One of the reasons why several EU countries, the Netherlands included, are against a fast track membership is because of the persistent corruptionproblem in Ukraine. In a list of least corrupt countries in the world, Ukraine is at spot number 122.
Zelenskyy has expressed doubts about these kinds of reports. “The Russian Federation claims that we are nazi’s on the basis of these ‘official reports’.”’
The Ukrainain president also points out that 62 percent of the dutch population supports Ukrainian membership in a poll from the Eurobarometer. Throughout the EU population, that percentage is even a little bit higher.
Zelenksyy therefore thinks that the politicians should also support the membership. “Politicians were chosen by the people.” On a sidenote, the statement in the poll was that Ukraine should join the EU when the country is ready for this.
(A snippet of the interview can be found at the source [here](https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2430483-zelensky-wil-eerlijkheid-van-rutte-als-er-geen-ruimte-is-in-de-eu-zeg-dat-dan) )
**East European expert Bob Deen:**
*“The history of Ukraine and the corruption are used as a reason by many countries to keep the EU membership at bay. A lot of Ukrainians, including President Zelenskyy, experience this as unfair. President Zelenskyy calls the accusations unjust, because according to him, there are many countries within the EU that struggle with Corruption. Zelenskyy is saying that a country is being judged stricter when it wants to join the EU rather than when it is a part of it.”*
*“On the other hand, there are a lot of Ukrainians who think that Zelenskyy has not done enough to fight the corruption in the country, when that was one of his promises before becoming president. Zelenskyy was also criticised for his alleged connections with Oligarchs. According to some, he was selective in his method of fighting corruption and wasn’t always as strict about them.”*
*“In the interview, he loosely interpreted the Eurobarometer poll in a way that worked out best for him. The last bit of the statement in the poll, he neglects to mention”*
Zelenskyy is convinced that his country will soon be ready for a permanent membership of the EU. Accusations that the fight against corruption and other reforms might take years or even decades, he rejects. “I heard a lot of countries from within and outside the EU that Putin would occupy Ukraine within three days. In a lot phone calls, I was told I’d be dead after three days.”
“I heard a lot of people say: leave Kyiv with your family right away. You’re a strong man, but your place is not in Ukraine. I heard just about everything, but I believe in facts. The fact is that we are here in Kyiv, right now. ”
Original source: [https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2430483-zelensky-wil-eerlijkheid-van-rutte-als-er-geen-ruimte-is-in-de-eu-zeg-dat-dan](https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2430483-zelensky-wil-eerlijkheid-van-rutte-als-er-geen-ruimte-is-in-de-eu-zeg-dat-dan)