Ukraine's accession to the EU: Membership negotiations will start by the end of the year
Olha Stefanishyna, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine (Photo: (RBC Ukraine, Vitalii Nosach)
Ukraine will not fulfill all seven criteria of the European Commission by October, but negotiations on EU membership will still commence, according to the statement by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Olga Stefanishyna, during the conference "Ukraine's Path to the EU."
"In October, we will not hear that all seven requirements have been fulfilled by us 100%, as this is a massive task that will take years," Stefanishyna said.
However, she is confident that Ukraine will adopt "all agreed legislative and institutional changes by October."
The Vice Prime Minister noted that while implementing specific reforms, particularly the anti-corruption ones, "new challenges arise, for instance, the full implementation of the anti-corruption program."
"Our task is to ensure that these new challenges do not become conditions (for the start of negotiations)," Stefanishyna added.
Ukraine's EU membership
In 2022, Ukraine was granted candidate status for EU membership. Following this, a series of conditions for membership were set for our country.
Official representatives of Ukraine have repeatedly emphasized that they are counting on the start of negotiations on EU membership this year. To achieve this, our country must implement several reforms.
In June, European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi revealed that our country had fulfilled two of seven European Commission recommendations for the start of EU membership negotiations.
Previously, the European Commission has begun preparing a report on EU enlargement, which will likely include a recommendation for starting negotiations with Ukraine regarding its accession.
