EU links Volhynia massacre issue to Ukraine's European integration

Events in memory of the Volhynia massacre in Warsaw, July 2013. Photo: Tomasz Gzell/dpa/picture alliance

The European Parliament has registered an amendment to the report on Ukraine's progress toward European Union membership, proposing to link the further advancement of accession negotiations to the issue of the Volhynia tragedy. The amendment has been submitted to the "2025 Commission report on Ukraine", which the European Parliament plans to consider at its July plenary session.

According to the text of the amendment, "Ukraine's EU accession process must be accompanied by full recognition and proper commemoration of the victims of the Volhynia tragedy, as well as active Polish-Ukrainian historical dialogue and exhumation work." If adopted, this would be the first instance of the Volhynia tragedy being directly linked to the assessment of Ukraine's progress toward the European Union.

As noted in European documents, the current version of the report already welcomes the efforts of Ukraine and Poland to resolve historical issues, including the resumption of exhumations of burial sites of Polish citizens on Ukrainian territory; however, the new amendment significantly elevates the importance of this topic in the context of European integration.

As the UOJ previously reported, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized that historical disputes and the glorification of Stepan Bandera constitute an insurmountable obstacle to Kyiv's European integration.

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