Ukraine has real chance of joining EU, top European diplomat says
Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová (photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine's accession to the European Union is a very real prospect. The country is among four frontrunners with a roadmap and has made progress on reforms, said Katarína Mathernová, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, at the event "Beyond the Headlines: Assessing Ukraine's Progress as an EU Candidate Country."
Ukraine's prospects
Mathernová noted that only a few countries have met two important prerequisites for joining the EU.
"The last takeaway, which is a novelty in this report, is that for the four front-runners, it came with concrete roadmaps, the diplomat said.
According to Mathernová, Ukraine is among them.
"Despite the brutal Russian aggression and the escalation of recent months, even in the capital city, Ukraine is keeping pace with the front-runners. It is carrying out reforms that are important and necessary to earn the EU's support and to move along the enlargement path," she clarified.
Candidate assessment criteria
Mathernová said there are two matrices, two scales used to assess each country, and they are very different:
"There are two things that get judged by the report. One is progress since the last report. So that's the dynamics in the last year, in the last 12 months. And then there is a cumulative assessment of reforms done in a certain area since the reforms were undertaken," she said.
According to the diplomat, the second assessment looks at the country's overall level of preparedness, taking into account reforms carried out over the years.
"Ukraine has been carrying out reforms, especially in the area of fundamentals, since the Revolution of Dignity. There's been recent acceleration since the full-scale invasion. There's been acceleration since this summer, but the cumulative assessment of what has been done has been upgraded to the next level," she said.
Mathernová noted that Ukraine's level of preparedness had been upgraded in 14 areas, reflecting years of steady progress. At the same time, she acknowledged that further reforms were needed.
"Now, this doesn't mean that there are not problems, that there are not areas where reforms need to accelerate, that there are not issues that need addressing. Of course there are. But the report gives credit where credit is due," she said.
In addition, the European Commission reported that Ukraine is lagging behind Moldova on its path to EU membership due to insufficient progress in combating corruption.
The Commission praised Ukraine's efforts under the difficult circumstances caused by Russia's aggression but stressed the need to demonstrate significant progress in fighting corruption.
