By KYIV. Dec 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that he is certain Ukraine and Moldova’s negotiations on accession to the European Union will stall for an indefinite time, as happened with his country.
“Giving them candidate status does not mean they will become EU members. A process will start with them, they will be stalled too,” Western media outlets quoted Erdogan as saying.
“None of these countries are a Turkey,” he said, adding that the “strategic and economic” potential of Turkey, which has been a candidate for joining the EU since 2005, gave it the right to join, but political obstacles prevented it.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey meets the criteria for joining the EU better than some countries which are already members, but Ankara was forced to wait for years, Erdogan said. “The EU needs to turn back from this mistake now,” he said.
On December 14, EU member states made a decision to begin negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on their accession to the union.
Ukraine applied for EU membership in February 2022. The EU granted it candidate status in June of the same year. In June 2022, Moldova was also granted EU candidate status.
