Ukraine's Deputy PM for European Integration says final EU decision to be made in December

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said that the wording on Ukraine's progress in the long-awaited European Commission report will be "concise", but that the leaders’ final decision to open negotiations is still to come.

Source: Stefanishyna in a comment on the afternoon of 7 November, the day before the report is officially published, reported by European Pravda

Details: Stefanishyna noted that there are "too many emotions" in public comments on the upcoming report.

"There are too many emotions in the comments around the expected report of the European Commission and little understanding of the path that opened to us on 23 June last year. Living in a constant ‘emotional rollercoaster’, we are often prone to categorical assessments. We do not hear praise behind the criticism; and by focusing on individual things, we lose sight of the main thing," she said on Facebook.

Stefanishyna added that the report would describe Ukraine's progress and outline the steps to be taken.

"But the wording will be concise. And in this context, I will note three things: 1) Ukraine is a part of the wider political puzzle of enlargement, and the report will be about that; 2) Reforms must continue, there will be no exhaustive list of tasks; 3) The EC report is only a basis, the decision to open negotiations will be made by EU leaders in December. We may not like it, we may not agree with it, and we may even consider it unfair, but what is important is that we, Ukraine, have already raised the bar extremely high for all the countries [wanting to join the EU – ed.]," she said.

Stefanishyna promised to provide detailed comments on the report's content after its official publication on 8 November.

"We have done everything we agreed to do. Reforms will continue, before and after the start of membership negotiations. This is a marathon," the Deputy Prime Minister added.

Background: The European Commission said that Ukraine has fully met four of the seven criteria needed to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership. The other three criteria are accompanied by recommendations from the European Commission for further implementation.

According to Bloomberg, the European Commission is likely to recommend that member states begin formal negotiations with Ukraine after all seven criteria for candidate status are met.

However, the sources noted that the final wording of the European Commission's opinion has not yet been approved.

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