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European Parliament chief says Ukraine should be EU candidate ‘as quickly as possible’

European Parliament chief says Ukraine should be EU candidate 'as quickly as possible'

The European Parliament would like “Ukraine to become an (EU) candidate country as quickly as possible,” Roberta Metsola told Euronews

“For us, Ukrainians are fighting our war. They are fighting a war in Europe, they are fighting against an autocratic dictatorship that is intimidating, and menacing and blackmailing the whole of the European Union and our whole continent,” the president of the European Parliament told Euronews at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

“If we don’t say we are going to open our doors to countries fighting for the very fundamental values that we all share and are so proud to share, then how can we walk away from that?”

Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, meanwhile, told Euronews that businesses in Ukraine are already slowly rebuilding. 

“The message we are hearing from businesses is that there is no future for business in Russia. So the focus now is on Ukraine and it is really about what businesses are doing currently; the humanitarian aid they are providing and reopening their businesses across Ukraine,” he said. 

“We’ve seen many that have been damaged. Twenty per cent of our members have seen damaged business, seven per cent of members have had employees killed. 

“Now it is really about looking forward to the reconstruction, that really will be a massive role for the businesses to reconstruct a new country in 21st century Europe and Central Europe.”

Watch the full interviews in the video player above.

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