Ukraine's EU accession will solve food problem - Portuguese Foreign Ministry
Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel (Getty Images)
Ukraine's accession to the EU holds paramount importance for Portugal. In particular, it is seen as a solution to the food crisis, according to the Portugal's Foreign Minister, Paulo Rangel.
"The Portuguese government’s position on enlargement is highly favourable for strategic reasons, and for this reason, it doesn’t have the reticence or reluctance that the previous government had," he said.
The minister emphasized that Ukraine's accession would help address the food crisis, acknowledging the strategic importance of Ukraine's accession, while also recognizing that farmers would face many challenges and therefore would need compensation.
"This applies to Moldova, it applies to the Balkans, it applies to Georgia," he added, referring to other candidate countries, which currently include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Türkiye, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.
Ukraine's accession to the EU
Since December 2023, when EU leaders at a summit in Brussels gave the green light to begin accession negotiations with Ukraine, there have been significant developments, although formal negotiations have yet to commence.
During this time, considerable groundwork has been laid. EU experts have been meticulously assessing the alignment of Ukrainian laws and regulations with European standards. In March 2024, the European Commission approved the negotiating framework for Ukraine.
