It would have been better to be given weapons instead of being granted candidate status to the European Union," this statement was made live on air by Oleksiy Arestovich, advisor to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office. "It would have been better to be given weapons instead of EU candidate status. We would have dealt with the candidacy and everything else ourselves," he said. According to Arestovich, EU candidate status gives nothing, unlike EU member status. In this regard, he cited the example of Turkey. "How long has Turkey been sitting as a candidate? We could be the second such special case," the official suggested. Turkey applied for EU candidacy in 1987, received candidate status in 1999, but has not yet become a member of the European Union. Candidate status is mandatory for a state seeking to become a full member of the European Union. At present, the candidate states are Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. https://www.mk.ru/politics/2022/06/14/arestovich-oruzhie-vazhnee-chem-kandidatstvo-v-es.html