Ukraine faces massive legal overhaul for EU entry, Polish Foreign Minister says
Photo: Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski (GettyImages)
Ukraine needs to implement a huge array of European legislation to join the European Union, says Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski in a quick-fire interview with RBC-Ukraine.
Read also: Will Ukraine join EU in 2027? Interview with Zelenskyy's office deputy head Ihor Zhovkva
Main obstacle is scope of reforms
According to Sikorski, the path to EU membership is a complex and lengthy process that requires large-scale adaptation of legislation.
"To implement either the Association Agreement or the acquis communautaire. We are talking about 80,000 pages of legislation. You need your parliament to work really hard," the Minister says.
He recalls that Poland also had a long road to membership: it took the country nine years after the political decision to join was made.
Poland assesses impact of EU enlargement
Sikorski stresses that Ukraine is a large country, so its accession will have a significant impact on the economies of the European Union countries.
"We need to make assessments, sector after sector, so that we can prepare ourselves for enlargement too," he explains.
At the same time, the Polish Foreign Minister acknowledges that Ukraine was granted candidate status in record time as recognition of its resilience and courage.
Political factor remains
In addition to technical aspects, there are also political challenges, in particular the position of individual EU member states.
"Now we need to deal with the Hungarian question, regarding the start of the negotiations," Sikorski says.
He notes that the enlargement process requires not only internal reforms in the candidate country, but also political consensus within the European Union.
Ukraine's membership in EU by 2027
Earlier, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva said that Kyiv expected the European Union to make a political decision on Ukraine's membership in the bloc by 2027.
Commenting on these proposals, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos noted that the current EU enlargement methodology was created for peacetime and did not take into account current challenges.
She also stressed that to accelerate Ukraine's accession, it was necessary to change the rules that have been in place for about 40 years, and this required the unanimous support of all 27 EU member states.
Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the initial drafts of the 20-point peace plan, which was being discussed with the mediation of the US, set the date for Ukraine's accession to the European Union as 2027.
