Charles Michel: grant Ukraine and Moldova candidate membership

Russian Nobel Prize winner auctions Ukrainian children’s medal

Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 along with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, auctioned his prize on Monday evening. An anonymous buyer put on the table 103.5 million dollars (98.3 million euros) for the medal. Muratov is going to transfer the entire amount to UNICEF, so that they can help refugee Ukrainian children.

Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said before the auction according to news agency AP that he wanted to give young refugees “a chance at a future.” Muratov had won the prize himself for his independent reporting in Russia, where press freedom is increasingly restricted.

After the invasion of Ukraine, his newspaper Novaya Gazeta decided to stop writing about the war because of a new law that made independent reporting impossible. Muratov himself was the victim of an attack on a Russian train. He was smeared with paint by an unknown person while he was sitting in his compartment.

Charles Michel: grant Ukraine and Moldova candidate membership

The President of the European Council Charles Michel has a video message on Twitter Voted for EU membership candidate for Ukraine and Moldova. “I think it’s time to recognize the European perspective of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia,” Michel said. “The future of these countries and their people lies within the EU. More specifically, my intention is that we decide to grant candidate country status to Ukraine and Moldova.”

EU member states’ leaders will meet next week to decide whether Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia can become candidate countries. It is expected that at least Moldova and Ukraine will be granted this status. It will then probably take years before the countries are actually EU member states.

For Georgia, candidate membership still seems a long way off. Michel refused to comment on the possible status of the country in his video message. earlier said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the country still needs to implement several reforms in order to qualify for candidate membership.

In response to that rejection, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Monday in a ‘March for Europe’. With the demonstration, the Georgians wanted to show that they also want to join the European Union. They also expressed their dissatisfaction with the government, which according to the demonstrators has not done enough to prepare the country for candidate membership.

EU protesters in Tbilisi. Photo Vano Shlamov / AFP