Key facts
- President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ireland on July 1.
- Ireland assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.
- Zelensky met with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin and Irish Finance Minister Simon Harris.
- Zelensky stated Ukraine deserves to be an equal part of the European Union.
- Ukraine hopes to open the remaining five accession clusters as early as July.
- Supporting Ukraine will be an important priority for the Irish presidency.
President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ireland on July 1 to mark the beginning of the country's six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union. He was welcomed by Irish Finance Minister Simon Harris and subsequently met with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at Dublin Castle.
Zelensky expressed his belief that Ukraine is proving its worthiness to be an equal member of the European Union and hopes that Ireland's presidency will facilitate significant progress toward membership and the opening of all negotiating clusters. Ukraine aims to open the remaining five accession clusters in July to expedite its membership talks.
Ireland takes over the EU presidency from Cyprus, whose term saw the initiation of the first negotiation cluster with Kyiv and the final approval of a 90-billion-euro ($102 billion) Ukraine Support Loan. Prime Minister Martin affirmed that supporting Ukraine will remain a key priority for Ireland's presidency, referring to Ukraine as "part of our European family."