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EU countries reach consensus on membership candidate status for Ukraine

Earlier on Tuesday, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola noted that the EU should grant Ukraine candidate status to boost morale of Ukrainians

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BRUSSELS, June 21. /TASS/. European Union countries reached a political consensus on Tuesday to grant Ukraine membership candidate status at the EU summit on June 23-24, said France’s secretary of state for European affairs.

"EU countries have reached a broad consensus, even a full political consensus on granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership in the EU," Clement Beaune told a news conference following a meeting of the Council of the European Union.

Today’s discussions yielded total consensus on the possibility to consider the membership candidate bids, especially from Ukraine, in the shortest time, Beaune said, also referring to Moldova and Georgia’s European aspirations.

The EU should grant Ukraine candidate status to boost morale of Ukrainians, although "many different steps" must be taken for genuine entry into the bloc, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said earlier on Tuesday.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan