President’s Office: Ukraine completes EU accession questionnaire
Kateryna Tyshchenko – Sunday, 17 April 2022, 19:40
Ukraine has completed the questionnaire that is a crucial step towards Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Source: Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on the national joint news broadcast
According to Zhovkva: "During Ursula von der Leyen’s [President of the European Commission] visit to Ukraine on 8 April, President [Zelenskyi] promised that Ukraine would fill out the questionnaire that she had brought with her within a week. Today marks a week since that visit, and we are announcing that the document brought by Ms von der Leyen has been completed by Ukraine.
The ball is now in the European Commission’s court. It will prepare a recommendation as to whether Ukraine fulfils the Copenhagen membership criteria. Without this recommendation we will not be able to accede to the EU.
We expect to receive a positive recommendation based on the information that we submitted to the European Commission. After that, it’s up to the member states’ to decide."
Details: Zhovkva added that Ukraine expects to be granted the status of a candidate country for EU membership during the European Council meeting in June.
"As soon as that happens, negotiations will begin as to Ukraine's accession to the EU. When the negotiations are completed, then we will be able to talk about Ukraine’s full membership in the EU," he said.
Background:
- On 8 April Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, officially presented President Zelenskyi with a questionnaire, whose completion is a necessary step towards acquiring an EU candidate status. She said that she was convinced that Ukraine would win the war and that the EU was ready to offer refuge to and help Ukrainian citizens.
- President Zelenskyi expressed hope that the Ukrainian government would provide answers to the EU candidate status questionnaire within a week.
- On 15 April President Zelenskyi stated that Ukraine had in fact already filled out the official questionnaire for accession to the European Union.
