Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister comments on delay in negotiations with EU

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, has commented on the recent statement by President of the European Commission who said that the negotiating framework with Ukraine, which must be approved before direct negotiations on EU accession can begin, will not be ready for the European elections, but rather after them.

Source: Stefanishyna in a comment to European Pravda

Details: Stefanishyna explained that the negotiation framework is a document that defines the principles and procedures for EU accession negotiations. The Deputy Prime Minister noted that work on the negotiation framework has been ongoing since January, and the Commission has not reported any complications in preparing for further work that is scheduled for March.

Quote: "In the dialogue with the European Commission, we have repeatedly discussed the preparation of a preemptive framework, and there was no mention of any difficulties in preparing the text [of this framework] for March," Stefanishyna said.

She also stated that the European Commission is only preparing the text of the negotiation framework before submitting it to the EU member states for consideration. They are the ones to make the final decision.

"According to the decision of the European Council in December last year, the European Commission has [time left] until March to prepare a report on Ukraine's progress in implementing additional steps, followed by consideration of the decision on the negotiation framework", Stefanishyna said.

On 21 February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the framework for Ukraine's EU accession negotiations would not be ready before the European elections in early June.

Earlier, there was hope that the negotiating framework would be approved at an intergovernmental conference held following the EU leaders' summit in March. Holding an intergovernmental conference marks the official start of accession negotiations.

The March EU summit is expected to evaluate Ukraine's most recent moves to begin accession talks. Among these moves is the approval of the law on lobbying.

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