Address by the President of the European Council, António Costa, on Europe Day

Dear citizens of Ukraine,

I am addressing you today as future members of the European Union family.

On Europe Day, we celebrate our common European project, when our founding members chose unity over division, and cooperation over conflict.

They decided to build a future of peace, freedom and prosperity on the ashes of the Second World War.

Your bravery inspires us every day. You defend our European values.

We will stand with you for as long as it takes to achieve a just and lasting peace.

We believe your future is in the European Union. A lot of hard work is taking place to make it happen.
We look forward to taking the next steps in your accession process as soon as possible.

Together, we will build a shared European future.

Long live Europe!