Nothing is off the table to get Ukraine into the European Union (EU), President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola exclusively told the Guardian.

This includes removing trade tariffs and granting access to internal markets before full membership. 

Metsola said that she expects member states to begin formal negotiations with Ukraine by December.

“If they are going fast, we should match that speed.”

Metsola has been a prime advocate of the fight against the Russian aggression in Ukraine. She was the first political leader to visit Ukraine at the start of April 2022 and since then, her efforts have only intensified.

Metsola has consistently stood behind her calls to accede Ukraine thus making it an EU member state.

Ukraine applied for EU membership in February 2022, and by June, it was granted candidate status by the European Council.

Meanwhile, at the special European Council meeting in February 2023, EU leaders acknowledged the considerable efforts that Ukraine has demonstrated towards meeting the objectives underpinning its candidate status for EU membership.

The leaders also encouraged Ukraine to fulfill the conditions specified in the Commission’s opinion to advance toward future EU membership.

By June of this year, Ukraine had satisfied two out of seven conditions and made good progress on a third.

These conditions need to be fulfilled for accession talks to begin. The completed conditions relate to the media sector which was amended to align with EU standards, along with the creation of two high-level judicial bodies.

Do you think that Ukraine should be granted membership to the EU as soon as possible?