Stefanishyna: Ukraine expects EU to provide framework for accession talks no later than March 12
The European Commission has until March 12 to present a negotiating framework and assess Ukraine's progress in reforms to start accession talks with the EU.
This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna, as quoted by Suspilne and UNN.
“We expect that no later than March 12, the European Commission will present a negotiation framework and assess the progress in reforms so that on March 19, the EU countries can make a decision [on the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU],” the minister said.
Stefanishyna expressed hope that there would be no delays. At the same time, she said that there were “sad cases” when the European Commission received appeals due to internal problems in the Verkhovna Rada. It seems that this refers to an appeal from the European Solidarity party regarding the non-admission of opposition representatives abroad.
“This is a very sad practice, I don't know what impact it will have. I hope that when we say that on all strategic issues we are a team — Ukraine — we will remain so even when we have complex processes within the state. And as of [February 24, 2024], we had a very clear algorithm (for starting negotiations — ed.), so now it is difficult to predict whether it will be implemented given the recent events,” Stefanishyna said.
Negotiations on EU accession start
On December 14, the European Council decided to start negotiations on Ukraine and Moldova's accession to the European Union.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal emphasized that with this decision, the European Union highly appreciated the reforms carried out in recent years, as well as the implementation of all the recommendations of the European Commission.
After the European Council's unanimous decision to start negotiations, Ukraine must implement EU laws and standards. Compliance with all requirements must be confirmed by each EU member state.
Starting negotiations at the same time as another country does not guarantee completion at the same time, as the pace of negotiations depends on the speed of reforms and harmonization with EU legislation in each country.
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