Media: The EU intends to announce accession negotiations for Ukraine by the end of the year

The European Union expects to officially announce the start of negotiations with Ukraine on its future entry into the union in December. writes Politico.

The European Commission (EC) is expected to publish a report in November assessing how well Ukraine and other candidate countries meet the conditions for EU membership. After that, the EC will make a statement that will make it “very difficult for member states not to say ‘let’s start negotiations’ on Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” one European diplomat told the publication.

“Political pressure that individual member states simply cannot resist will be too strong. The working assumption is indeed that by December the EU will decide to start negotiations,” he said.

As Politico recalls, to begin negotiations, Ukraine must fulfill seven conditions put forward by the EC, including judicial reform and the fight against corruption. In August, Kyiv reported that two of the seven conditions had been met.

Earlier in September, Deputy President of the European Parliament Katarina Barley stated journalists that he considers it impossible for Ukraine to join the EU before 2029.

Ukraine declared its European orientation back in the 1990s, and the question of associate membership in the EU became the formal reason for the Euromaidan of 2013–2014. After his victory in 2014, the Ukrainian authorities enshrined the course towards Euro-Atlantic integration in the constitution and took many steps to ensure that the country became a candidate for membership of the European Union.

Kyiv submitted documents to join the EU at the end of February 2022. Four months later, the country officially became a candidate for membership in the organization. A year later, according to European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi, the Ukrainian authorities fulfilled two of the seven conditions for EU membership – they reformed the High Council of Justice and the High Qualifications Commission of Judges and adopted a law on the media. In addition, the authorities have enshrined the desire for Ukraine to join the union in the country’s constitution.