Ukrainian Integration Minister Hits Back After Estonia Predicts Long Path to EU Membership

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2021) A Ukrainian minister in charge of Euro-Atlantic integration lashed back at the Estonian president on Thursday after she said Ukraine was decades away from EU membership.

"I think that [Kersti] Kaljulaid's remark is another sign of the EU's reluctance to expand and an attempt to blame it on alleged shortcomings of Eastern Neighborhood countries," Olha Stefanishyna told the European Pravda website.

Kaljulaid said in an interview to the website this week that it would probably take Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia 20 years to meet EU's criteria for accession.

Stefanishyna, a deputy prime minister in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, said the speed of Ukraine's accession depended on both Brussels and Kiev. She argued that Ukraine had "all the reasons" to be granted the status of a potential candidate.