As the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on June 11, Ukraine was finally able to take all the necessary steps to start negotiations on joining the EU by the end of this month.
Points of attention
- Ukraine received a positive verbal assessment from the European Commission for progress in European integration reforms.
- The European Union believes that Ukraine deserves to start accession negotiations.
- The Ukrainian authorities have fulfilled the specified criteria in such areas as anti-corruption, control over political lobbying and transparency of officials' fortunes.
- The next steps depend on the EU member states, which must adopt a framework for negotiations on Ukraine's accession.
Ukraine is getting closer to membership in the European Union
The Brussels politician officially announced the decision during the Berlin Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine.
She also drew attention to Ukraine's recent approval of the reform plan, the implementation of which is a condition for the allocation of multibillion-dollar macro-financial assistance to the European Union in the coming years.
As the head of the European Commission stated, Ukraine deserves the bloc countries to start accession negotiations with it finally.
Ukraine has completed all the steps that we have identified. And that is why we believe that the EU should start accession negotiations with Ukraine by the end of this month, Ursula von der Leyen emphasized.
How the EU evaluates Ukrainian reforms
On June 7, it became officially known that the European Commission expressed a positive verbal assessment of the progress of the European integration reforms of Ukraine and Moldova, outlined in the November report on the enlargement of the bloc.
Ana Pisonero, spokeswoman for the European Commission, made such a statement.
We believe that all the steps have been taken by both countries... It is now up to the Member States to continue the discussion on the next steps. It is up to them to adopt the framework of negotiations, the speaker emphasised.
Pisonero draws attention to the fact that, in this way, the Ukrainian authorities have achieved the necessary criteria in specific areas:
anti-corruption,
control over political lobbying,
transparency of the wealth of officials,
in the field of ensuring the rights of national minorities.
