Negotiations on Ukraine's accession to EU can begin this year – Zelenskyy
After the Ukraine-EU Summit in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserted that there is a consensus between Ukraine and its partners in regards to the beginning of negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in 2023.
Source: Zelenskyy’s video address
Quote: "We spoke and are speaking now as members of the European community. And we are working to have this recognised legally.
What exactly did we agree on today?
There is an understanding that it is possible to start negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union this year.
The partners also understand that this year, as last year, we have to continuously strengthen the defence support of our country and the pressure on Russia, in particular the sanctions pressure."
Background:
- The European Union has agreed that Ukraine is making serious efforts to carry out the reforms necessary to start membership negotiations.
- In particular, the document contains a unilateral statement from the EU side, in which the European Union "acknowledged the considerable efforts that Ukraine demonstrated in the recent months towards meeting the objectives underpinning its candidate status for EU membership". It is about a list of seven criteria that Ukraine must fulfil in order to move forward in joining the EU.
- The joint statement of the summit states that the EU "welcomed the progress in ensuring the independent and effective work of anti-corruption institutions and bringing Ukraine's media legislation into line with EU legislation on audiovisual media services".
- The document also highlights two areas to which special attention is drawn: judicial reform and reform of the Constitutional Court, and also emphasises the need to obtain an assessment of the Venice Commission regarding the law on national minorities.
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