The European Commission considers that the new expansion of the European Union is a geopolitical necessity and is starting to prepare the reforms of the Union's policies and institutions necessary for that purpose, announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

- The new enlargement of the European Union is not only a call of history, but a geopolitical necessity. We need to establish a vision for our successful enlargement, which is why the European Commission has launched a pre-accession analysis of EU policies to decide how our institutions, our budget, our security guarantees will function after the enlargement of the Union - Von der Leyen said at the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Silina in Brussels.

Von der Leyen emphasized that Latvia is a bright example of successful integration into the EU, which continued to deepen its integration into the Union even after almost 20 years of joining the European family.

Earlier, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Analena Berbock, stated that the enlargement of the EU is a necessary consequence of the Ukrainian crisis. According to her, Ukraine's progress in the reform of the justice system and media legislation is impressive, but Kiev still needs to work on the implementation of the anti-oligarch law and the fight against corruption.