President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola offers Ukrainian MPs to join the EU as "observers"

The President of the European Parliament has suggested that Ukrainian and Moldovan MPs could join the European Parliament as "observers" while the countries await official accession to the European Union.

Politico reports.

Such observer members will not have voting powers and be nominated rather than elected, but they would have seats in the institution that "will in any case grow from 705 to 720 members after the June 2024 European election."

According to the rules of the European Parliament, only after signing a formal accession agreement with the EU will representatives of these countries be able to get seats in the parliament, which means that this process could take years.

Davyd Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, says the Ukrainian government appreciates and supports the idea, adding that at least 30 politicians in the national government would like to become "observers".

It will be recalled that earlier, Roberta Metsola expressed hope that negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU would begin before Christmas in December 2023.

Photo: AP