PARIS, June 17. /TASS/. Ukraine would not have been able to apply for its EU candidate status under normal circumstances, French President Emmanuel Macron told BFM TV on Friday.

"Ukraine normally should not have been a candidate. Getting candidate status means a process that can last for years, Serbia’s case is an example. It is only a chapter in negotiations. We are doing that because military activities are underway and we think that it is right," Macron pointed out.

He noted that France, Germany, Italy and Romania, whose leaders had visited Kiev on Thursday, shared that opinion. A decision on candidate status is expected to be made at an EU summit in Brussels next week. An approval would be "a strong political gesture for Ukraine" that would mark the beginning "of a long journey" to the EU, as well as "a signal for Russia."

"I hope that the same positive signal will be sent to Moldova, too, which has also been weakened by a separatist movement in Transnistria. It can also become a candidate," Macron said, reiterating that candidate status did not mean EU membership but made it possible to show that a country belonged to "the European family.".