The European Union’s parliament supports Ukraine’s bid to achieve candidate status to join the European Union, the parliament’s president Roberta Metsola said on Friday at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit.

“The EU parliament stands firmly behind Ukraine’s bid to receive EU candidate status,” Metsola said.

After reviewing the two parts of the questionnaire submitted by Kiev to Brussels on the commitments and applications for status, next week Brussels can launch the expected recommendation.

On April 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a completed questionnaire to EU officials to apply for EU candidate status.

The granting of candidate status to Ukraine will be decided by the members of the bloc, who will act on the advice of experts of the European Commission.

If candidate status is approved, Ukraine will have to go through a complex and potentially lengthy accession process, which must demonstrate compliance with strict democratic and rule of law standards.