European Commission President: Ukraine Fulfills Almost All Conditions to Start EU Accession Talks
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fulfilled "almost" all the requirements set by the EU to start accession talks ahead of a key European Council summit in December. This was reported by POLITICO.
"To see the deep and structural reforms that Ukraine is doing while fighting an existential war is to me deeply impressing... They have fulfilled all the necessary requirements for almost all the seven steps we asked them to do," she said.
The EU is expected to announce the start of accession talks with Ukraine, which was granted candidate status in June, after a summit of European leaders in Brussels in mid-December.
Earlier this month, von der Leyen said that Ukraine had fulfilled "more than 90 per cent" of the preconditions set by the EU amid the commission's recommendation to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
The European Council granted Ukraine candidate status at a summit in Brussels on 23 June. Kyiv has to implement several important reforms related to the rule of law, oligarchs and corruption, among other things.
"The Commission recommends that Ukraine be granted a European perspective. This is, of course, subject to a number of important reforms being implemented in the country. In the Commission's view, Ukraine has clearly demonstrated its desire and determination to live up to European values and standards," said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
Important reforms are as follows: reform of the Constitutional Court; continuation of judicial reform; fight against corruption, including the appointment of the head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office; fight against money laundering; adoption of the law on the fight against oligarchs; harmonisation of audiovisual legislation with the European one; and amendments to the legislation on national minorities.
On 26 September, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that at the government level, 7 recommendations of the European Commission on reforms to be implemented for the next step towards EU accession had been fully put into practice.
On November 7, it became known that the European Commission considers four of the seven recommendations to be fully completed.
As The Gaze previously reported, on November 4, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv for key talks. This was her sixth visit to Kyiv since the beginning of the Russian war.
On November 8, Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Commission had officially recommended that negotiations with Ukraine on its accession to the European Union begin.