BRUSSELS, April 22 - The European Union scrambled to get a call with Ukraine’s president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday as Western powers wondered whether the TV comic would heed their urgings to stick with reforms that they hope can anchor the country beyond the grip of Russia, Reuters reported.

EU institutional leaders Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker wrote jointly to congratulate the 41-year-old political novice on an easy win over Petro Poroshenko, for five years the West’s champion in Kyiv. But they also stressed that they are counting on more democratic reforms and fighting corruption.

Highlighting Sunday’s smoothly run vote as a “major achievement” after five years in which the EU has pumped cash into Ukraine and borne the cost of economic sanctions on Moscow, the respective presidents of the European Council and Commission urged Zelenskiy to seek continuity.

“Much remains to be accomplished to fully realize the peaceful, democratic and prosperous Ukraine that its citizens have called for,” Tusk and Juncker wrote.

“You can count on the EU’s strong support to Ukraine’s reform path, including consolidating the rule of law, fighting corruption, maintaining macrofinancial stability and pursuing the essential reform of the energy sector.”

With Europe and North America taking an Easter holiday, there was little other comment on the second-round vote result that had been widely forecast by recent opinion polls. Diplomats and officials in Brussels working with both the European Union and NATO said Zelenskiy was still very much an unknown quantity for Western governments.

“Very few from the European elite — if any — know him,” said a senior EU diplomat in Brussels.

Another called Zelenskiy’s task “quite challenging” in managing appointments and parliamentary elections, as well as in his relations with billionaire power-brokers. Those included Ihor Kolomoisky, owner of the TV channel that broadcasts his show. However, the diplomat said he felt some “cautious optimism”.

EU officials had been quietly in contact with people close to Zelenskiy since he romped home ahead of Poroshenko in the first round, EU sources told Reuters. Tusk and Juncker proposed a meeting as soon as possible and officials were trying to set up phone contact within the coming hours. There were also tentative plans for a formal EU-Ukraine summit in July.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a letter to the president-elect, who is expected to take office next month, that she looked forward to hosting him for talks in Berlin soon.

“The German government will also in the future continue to support Ukraine’s right to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Merkel wrote. (rt/ez)