In wink to Ukraine & Britain, Macron suggests new European entity

BRUSSSELS: France's president warned on Monday that decades could pass before

Ukraine

joins the EU, and proposed a new political organisation to bring together countries on the continent that share EU values but are not part of the bloc. During a speech marking

Europe Day

in Strasbourg, France, Emmanuel Macron said that "we all know perfectly that the process of allowing (Ukraine) to join would take several years, in fact probably several decades." Macron spoke after the EU's executive arm, the

European Commission

, said it aims to deliver a first opinion in June on Ukraine's request to become a member of the bloc. Once candidate status is granted, the process of EU membership usually takes years and any single member-state can veto not only any final accession deal, but also the opening and closing of individual negotiation chapters.

Macron said a fast-track procedure for Ukraine would lead to lowering standards, an idea he refuses. Instead, Macron proposed what he called a "European Political Community" which would be open to countries that haven't joined the EU, or, like the UK, have left it. "This new European organisation would allow democratic European nations that adhere to our core values to find a new space for political cooperation, security, energy cooperation, transport, investment, infrastructure, movement of people," Macron said. He added that joining the new organisation would not guarantee future EU membership.