Ukraine can start negotiations with EU without completely fulfilling all criteria of European Commission – official

Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, has acknowledged that Ukraine would not meet all the criteria of the European Commission necessary to start EU accession negotiations, but she still hopes that this will not prevent the start of negotiations.

Source: Stefanishyna, in an interview with European Pravda

Stefanishyna expressed confidence that Ukraine will receive a favourable decision from the European Commission and then the European Council on starting accession negotiations with the EU in autumn.

"In general, I have such confidence based on certain negotiations held in the member states and with European institutions. But the situation may change because leaders make this decision," she said.

At the same time, she said that the criterion regarding national minorities would not be met by the required time limit, in particular, taking into account critical opinion on the law of Ukraine "on national minorities (communities)" coming from the Venice Commission.

Stefanishyna explained, commenting on the conclusion of the Venice Commission, which requires Ukraine to provide guarantees for the protection of the rights of the Russian minority, that this conclusion would affect the authority of the Venice Commission but not the movement of Ukraine to the EU.

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"All warnings concerning the Russian language, the Russian minority, were voiced and spoken. And from the point of view of the fact that, yes, we know what is written in the Ukrainian Constitution, but we also know that the militarisation of the language is the main tool of Russian propaganda. Today we know it just like the world does. And today, we have a war going on. All arguments were given. At the same time, the Venice Commission did not listen to them," Stefanishyna said.

"I can say that this will not affect the assessment of Ukraine in any way, but it affects the authority and image of the Venice Commission as the gold standard for Human Rights and the rule of law," the deputy prime minister added.

She also stressed that Hungary, as an EU member state that makes decisions and has the right of veto, is not interested in closing issues that arise on national minorities with Ukraine at this stage. 

"This is not in line with their strategic interest because it is one of a few elements on which they have something to say. Even if we consider all the Venice Commission's recommendations, we would not have closed this issue at the time of opening negotiations," the deputy prime minister added.

"We are aware of this, so we need to form a critical mass of decisions that we have made along the way. We are approving the state program, and we will approve the methodology for using languages in media, advertising, and public events. 

We have already scheduled the first consultations with the Hungarian side on implementing educational legislation. We will do a lot, implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission in many ways, but this recommendation will not be implemented until Ukraine's membership in the EU," she said.

When asked if this will prevent Ukraine from opening negotiations with the EU, Stefanishyna said: "I hope not."

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